Phoenix
by Dewyn
Summary: Discontinued. There's a v2, but that's discontinued, too.
1. Chapter 1

**Rewrite started August 31, 2018.**

 **Reviews for chapters 1-7 prior to this date are hereby deprecated and may not accurately reflect the events of said chapters or the current views of the reader in question.**

 **Let's hope this one's less garbage than before.**

 **update 10/6: fixed a missing word from an awkward mishap while uploading**

* * *

" _Without power, I am afraid you can never become a hero."_

Midoriya Izuku didn't usually swear, but as it had been an exceptionally bad day, he figured he could take a leaf out of Kacchan's book just this one: _what a_ _really shitty fucking day._

… _Wait, did I order that right? Should it be "fucking" before "shitty"?_

…He put swearing on the shelf for some other time.

But really – every foul word that Katsuki Bakugou knew probably wouldn't have sufficed to say just how _terrible_ Izuku felt just then. He'd met his hero – _All Might!_ – and promptly been told something he'd known all his life, something he'd been denying with all the vehemence his scrawny fourteen-year-old self could muster.

At no point in his life had he ever manifested any sort of supernatural ability – a Quirk, as they were called, things possessed by eighty percent of the population. Despite his parents being in that eighty percent, Izuku fell squarely in the other twenty.

Sure, some (hell, most) Quirks were either useless or not particularly effective; he'd gone to primary school with a boy whose Quirk allowed him to magnetize ants, and no matter how hard little Izuku had tried, he absolutely could not find a use for that Quirk. Others were very simple: his mother possessed a weak form of telekinesis that she could exercise on objects with a mass of less than five kilograms, while his father's Quirk was exactly as the name implied – fire breath.

Neither of them were likely to make him a hero, but at least he wouldn't have been Quirkless. He'd have actually fit in if he had a Quirk, no matter if it was flashy or strong…

Meanwhile, his childhood friend (and, though Izuku wouldn't have admitted it at the time, current bully) had a flashy _and_ strong Quirk that allowed him to create explosions _._ When they'd been four, Izuku had thought that was the most awesome thing in the world, but shortly thereafter, Bakugou had… _changed,_ morphed into something he hadn't been before, and quite suddenly they were no longer friends.

Izuku never told his mother about the bullying. Midoriya Inko and Bakugou Mitsuki remained under the impression that their children were just as good friends as they had been at the boys' ages.

He was quiet at dinner that evening.

"Izuku, sweetie, is something wrong?" his mother pressed, gently, kindly.

A hot prickle of shame shot up his spine as he glanced up at her. He'd never paid it much mind as a child, but the older he got, the more he couldn't help feeling like he'd hurt his mother by not having a Quirk; she'd gotten much _plumper_ since he was small, and he had the distinct idea that her weight gain had been precipitated by the stress of feeling like she'd failed as a parent when it turned out her only child was Quirkless.

His fault, again.

"Nothing's wrong, mom. I'm alright," he lied through his teeth.

"You're normally excited about some cool new Quirk you saw on the street – "

"I'm fine, mom, really," he cut in, sharper than he'd intended, and immediately Izuku's face flushed red as fire. "I'm – I'm gonna use the bathroom. I'll be right back."

Abruptly, he rose from the table, scraping his chair on the tile floor, and evacuated the dining room, leaving his confused mother to eat by herself.

* * *

"Lost him, huh?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry," Toshinori Yagi grunted to Tsukauchi Naomasa.

"It's no big deal. Scum like that always turn up again sooner or later. We'll find him again," the detective shrugged, and Toshinori gave a humorless chuckle.

"You're awfully nonchalant about this whole business."

"It's that or be pissed about a kid whose dreams you crushed," Tsukauchi shot back, teasing, but to his surprise, Toshinori trained his hollow gaze on the tiled floor of the police station.

"…Yeah. He's Quirkless. No matter how strong his drive is…he's gotta have a Quirk to do anything with heroics."

"Hey, ya never know. There's a kid preregistered for Yuuei's entrance exam whose Quirk literally just makes his hair sticky, and he's at least gonna give it a shot. Who's to say someone with even more drive but no Quirk can't at least try? Besides…look at yourself, Toshi."

The skeleton of a man hunched over a desk chair nodded, tiredly, as if he'd heard this before. "I know, I know. Tell me, Nao…I did something shitty, huh?"

Tsukauchi tapped a finger on his chin, thinking hard. After a moment, he handed Toshinori a mug of coffee, which the other begrudgingly accepted. "I think you should have taken a look in the mirror first."

"Me too. Nana-san took me in when I was just a Quirkless kid with a dream. But I mean…there's Togata. Nezu suggested that he become the ninth holder – "

"I understand feeling obligated to Togata," Tsukauchi cut across him. "But he doesn't know anything about this yet. Nezu _also_ said that you were free to make your own selection. You're All Might, remember? I think, out of anyone and everyone, you're the one who should have the last word here. Hell, you kinda _have_ to have the last word." The detective took a long sip of his own coffee, swilling it a moment before swallowing, then quirked an eyebrow at the number one hero, whose gaunt form was far too small for the suit he wore. "Think about it this way. Finding someone who's that driven but Quirkless, just like you…you could change a life. Togata's already found a way to make his Quirk into something fit for a hero, and he'll have his dream either way. This kid…he'll probably end up staring at heroes' backs for the rest of his damn life, always wishing for more than what he was given."

A pause. Toshinori took a drink of his own coffee.

"In the end, it's up to you," his friend shrugged, at length. "I've gotta go fill out the database report on this Sludge Quirk. You gonna be alright by yourself for a little while?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine."

Toshinori didn't elaborate, and Tsukauchi turned to leave, but just before he crossed the threshold of the room, the gaunt man's voice stopped him.

"…Thanks, Nao."

"Anything for a friend."

* * *

Izuku winced as he splashed cold water over a face rubbed raw from crying.

He'd been stupid to think All Might would have told him anything else.

When he got back to the dinner table, his mother gave him a long, silent look that said quite a bit more than the words that failed her just then ever could have.

The next morning was uneventful. Inko hugged him extra-tight before he left for school that day, but Izuku couldn't quite meet her eyes; by the time he was on his way back home, his mood still hadn't improved. He'd been completely helpless against a real villain yesterday – had been someone in need of saving – and now he was, yet again, completely helpless against Bakugou's bullying.

 _Useless. Worthless. Quirkless._

The words hung around his head like a black cloud as he fished _Hero Notes for the Future, Volume 13_ out of the koi pond and trudged home, crossing a footbridge that crossed the busy Shizuoka street –

 _Boom._

Out of habit, Izuku raised his head, then lowered it again.

 _I know,_ said a little voice in the back of his mind. _You wanna go see, you wanna go take notes. What good is that gonna do you?_

 _I could join the police force, like All Might said,_ he offered halfheartedly, but the voice laughed, cruel and humorless.

 _Sure, sure. You're too weak to be a cop and you know it._

Another blast, closer this time. Whatever was happening, his path led him right towards it, so, resigning himself to his fate, Izuku hiked up his bright-yellow backpack (such a contrast from his mood!) and marched on, letting his feet carry him home…if "home" was the sight of the same villain that had attacked him the previous day surrounded by burning garbage and a horrified crowd of onlookers, who'd been cordoned off by the police as several pro heroes stood by, seemingly unable to do anything.

Then he caught sight of Bakugou Katsuki and all the doubt in his mind flew out of the window.

" _Kacchan!"_

Wrapped in the villain's slimy clutches, Bakugou was too far away for Izuku to make out his reaction – if he'd even had one – but it was more than obvious that the blonde was fighting as hard as he could; here and there, portions of the sludge's body would pop and burst as Bakugou forced explosions through the slime, but it wasn't having any noticeable effect –

 _Wait a minute. All Might captured him…how on earth…?_

Then it hit him. He'd dislodged something when he'd grabbed All Might's leg – _it must have been the villain, there's no other way he'd have gotten away…this is my fault._

 _This is your fault._

Izuku fought off the thoughts and struggled his way to the front of the assembled crowd, chest against the police line. The villain was barely fifteen meters from the crowd, anchored to the pavement of a side street with its eyes bulging and its massive, ugly teeth gnashing.

" _Deku…stay back, you shitty nerd!"_ Bakugou half-screamed through clenched teeth, but in the moment he'd diverted his attention to Izuku, a fold of sludge clamped down over his nostrils and mouth, and Izuku knew that it was only a matter of seconds before his – _friend? enemy?_ – would lose consciousness and it would all be over for him.

 _Everything Kacchan's hoped for…his dreams will die before they ever come true! And it's my fault that he's in this situation to begin with…!_

Izuku screamed and was five meters over the yellow tape before anyone even knew he'd taken off running.

He could see the shock in Bakugou's eyes, the confusion, the _fear_ , and as smoothly as if he'd planned to do it all along, he shrugged off his backpack, spinning on the spot to use the bag like a sling and hurl a barrage of notebooks and binders into the villain's face. A few struck him – _it_ – in its bulbous, grapefruit-sized eyeballs, and it recoiled in pain, releasing Bakugou's mouth and nose; the next second, however, a sludgy arm shot out from the mass of human sewage before him, and Izuku barely dodged it before taking a second arm in the small of his back that threw him to the asphalt underfoot. He rolled, trying to stagger to his feet, but –

 _Crunch._

A tendril of slime, thick as a tree trunk and just as hard, slammed into his chest, and Izuku felt his ribs break. Weakly, he raised an arm to defend himself, but it was pointless; the bones in his forearm snapped like twigs and he screamed in pain, blood bubbling at the back of his throat.

 _This is it. This is the end. You tried to be a hero and you just couldn't._

Another slam, into his pelvis this time. He felt it fracture, but the pain just melted into the agony he was already in.

 _Midoriya Izuku. Weak, Quirkless._

A third slam. Thick, blackish blood spouted skyward from between his lips as he wheezed out the last air in his lungs, that last gasp before silence.

 _Dead._

The fourth slam crushed his skull and stained the pavement with gore.

In the few seconds that Midoriya Izuku was dead, police crowded forward, seeking to block the grisly scene from view, and the heroes assembled shook their heads sadly; they'd seen such things many times before, and this was no different. Izuku would become just another statistic, just another casualty, the Quirkless cadaver of a Quirkless kid – until his ravaged body burst into flames and five seconds later erupted in a column of red-gold fire that shot into the sky, radiant light pouring from the ashes –

Izuku's consciousness returned to the living world in a surge of heat, embers glowing beneath his skin, and his body (now entirely out of his control) took a single, powerful step forward; a ring of molten fire blazed forth from where his foot touched the ground, and his palm shot out, making the barest contact with the outer surface of the slime.

Instantly, the villain screamed, writhing in agony; trapped in its clutches, the terrified Bakugou struggled, but Izuku plunged his other hand into the sludge and it shriveled, dried, burned, freeing the blonde as the villain – _the villain, the villain_ , as if he were nothing else, never human, never conscious, just a nameless, formless _something_ that could only hurt and be destroyed, a catalyst for whatever power had suddenly awakened in Quirkless Izuku – as it, as _he_ , let out an unholy rattle, what breath he could breathe escaping in strangled gasps through his sludge-skin just as the flames surrounding Izuku withered and died.

At five forty-two PM on June 8th, Midoriya Izuku was killed by and subsequently killed a villain before collapsing in a smouldering heap on the pavement.

Overhead, the rain rolled in.

* * *

"So, lemme get this straight. A Quirkless kid gets the shit beaten out of him, then explodes in fire and kills a villain that's been giving us hell for a year and a half now."

"That's the gist of it, yeah."

Tsukauchi had been hearing such things through the grapevine for several hours, but when he finally checked out the case file and caught a glimpse of the supposedly Quirkless kid, he bit his lip and dialed Toshinori's number.

"Yo, Yagi-san," he quipped, the honorific ironic, trying to mask the strange anxiety in the pit of his stomach – why was he feeling this way? "You see the news?"

"I've seen nothing else," came the voice of Toshinori Yagi from the cell, grave as could be. "That's him, no two ways about it."

"Still thinking about the transfer?" In public as he was, he couldn't exactly say _are you still thinking about giving your Quirk to this kid?_ , but Toshinori was no fool, and he immediately understood what his friend meant.

"No," came the reply, and Tsukauchi was surprised until the other man went on: "I've decided I'm going to do it."

The surprise twisted into a knot of dread. He couldn't pick out a logical reason for this, but it was there, and it was tangible. Something was telling him – _giving this kid One For All could be simultaneously the best and worst decision of all time._

Still, he wasn't able to explain his feelings, and so he ceded to Toshinori's will, nodding into the phone even though the other couldn't see him.

"Alright. You gonna contact him directly?"

"Yeah. I'll get in touch tomorrow, probably. He's in the hospital right now."

"…Gotcha."

 _Beep._

Briefly, Tsukauchi reflected on just how disappointing hanging up on a touch-screen cell phone was – because, as it stood, he'd simply been left staring at the screen, all his doubts and worries bubbling to the surface like the sludge villain's last gasp.

Perhaps he'd invest in a flip phone. At least then he could shut them away with the call.

* * *

Izuku awoke at four in the afternoon the next day to the sight of a complete stranger seated at his bedside.

"Ah. You're awake, young Midoriya."

He blinked and reevaluated his assessment. The man at his side wasn't a _complete_ stranger – but he certainly would seem it to anyone passing by. As far as Izuku was aware, only a few people knew of All Might's true form, and he was one of them.

"W…what are you doin' here?" he slurred out, still a little out of it; maybe it was the medication? "I…I thought…"

"You thought I'd no further interest in you?" All Might finished for him, and Izuku gave a bleary nod. "Well…I've been doing a lot of thinking, and despite thinking yourself Quirkless, you were willing to go as far as to sacrifice yourself to save that other boy. And that…that is true heroism, my boy."

Izuku blinked.

"I understand you might be baffled by the sudden manifestation of a Quirk…but as far as any of us are aware – " he didn't specify the _us_ , and Izuku noted this for later " – it's just a Quirk that can repair lethal damage to your body, with a brief powerup afterward. Still not something you can become a hero with, considering the requirements for its use…but your actions are what I've been thinking on, not your Quirk. Think of it as a backup plan."

Still unsure where this was going, the boy in the bed could only nod again, and his heart leapt when All Might – _All Might!_ – bowed his head and clenched one fist, holding it out at the level of his chest.

"Young Midoriya…how would you feel about becoming my successor?"

The heart monitor nearly exploded.

* * *

 **I tried to stick to the original events of the chapter, but I'm definitely not gonna be sticking to canon like I was before. Chapter 2's rewrite should be a welcome change and make later events feel more...reasonable.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**

 _ **Wow.**_ **I am completely blown away by the amount of support this has received both here and on AO3. You guys have no idea how happy it made me to come back to my desk after a very rough day and see just how many people had enjoyed this.**

 **Particular thanks to those who took the time to leave reviews, and in response to two in particular:**

 **hec he got a** **hat** \- **You and some folks from AO3 had similar questions. Hope the end of the chapter clears some things up for ya.**

 **TBM10** **\- Phoenix is simply a name associated with rebirth from flame, I don't want to make him absolutely overpowered. The story would become very boring very quickly. Doesn't mean there won't be a few BAMF scenes.**

 **The end of this chapter was unplanned, someone over at AO3 pointed out that following the story too closely in terms of dialogue would end up being a bit tedious and then that happened.**

* * *

Izuku couldn't say anything significant had happened to him in terms of his Quirk – in fact, it hadn't manifested at all since the Sludge Villain Incident, and the only thing that stopped him wondering if it really had been _his_ Quirk was a set of medical forms he'd received in the mail about a week after, detailing the results of his examinations and, particularly, his blood test.

He'd never had his Quirk Factor tested before, considering his x-ray results, but sure enough – yep, he had one, though it was nothing like either of his parents'. The doctors had clearly found it significant to the point where they'd enclosed a handwritten note, telling him that he was "a medical enigma" between having two joints in his toe _and_ a mutated Quirk, but Izuku cared less about the medical intrigue of his existence than the fact that _he had a Quirk._

After discussing it with All Might one morning during training (and rigorous training it was, as Izuku forced himself to lift and haul things he'd never dreamed he had the strength to lift or haul), he settled on the name _Phoenix._ He wasn't sure if people got to name their own Quirks, though he figured that parents typically named them upon manifestation and registry and the users simply went with the assigned name, but the national registry accepted his change-of-Quirk form anyway, and that was what went into his Yuuei application nine months later:

 _Midoriya Izuku. Quirk: Phoenix!_

And now, here he stood, at six in the morning at the end of the tenth month of his training with All Might, standing atop the last of the trash that had completely overwhelmed the beach.

Screaming.

Not a scream of terror, or of pain, or of anger, or despair.

A scream of _victory._

A victory so intense he immediately succumbed to exhaustion and tumbled off the edge of the trash heap into the arms of none other than All Might, who set him down on his feet and ruffled his (sweaty) hair.

"Midoriya, my boy! What a fine job you've done here!" he declared, with the grandiosity typical of his muscle form. Izuku had quickly come to realize that his two forms had distinctly different personalities, though perhaps it was simply a matter of All Might being so used to putting up a front in his muscle form that he did it even around those who knew his true form.

The number one hero was clad in a navy blue peacoat and a pair of brown corduroy slacks, complete with a fashionable scarf tied in a sailor's knot; compared to him, Izuku, in workout wear (minus shirt), felt distinctly underdressed.

"Even I was not sure you could do it, but you went above and beyond! You've exceeded my expectations!" Such high praise from his hero warranted Izuku raising his head to look the man in the eyes, just in time to see him pluck a strand of golden hair from the distinct vee-shape over his brow.

A small laugh escaped Izuku's lips, and he snorted. "It's funny. It almost feels like I cheated or something."

"Nonsense. Every kid with a Quirk that you know was born with it, of that I am certain. You, on the other hand…you _earned_ this! Through your own sweat, blood and tears!" _And a disproportionate amount of the latter,_ the small voice of his true form added, but muscle form neglected to mention this.

"Young man…are you ready to receive my power?"

 _This._ This was what Izuku had been waiting for. "O-of course!" he stammered, nerves twisting his guts into loops, and without even blinking, All Might thrust the hair towards him.

"Eat this!"

 _What._

The moment totally ruined, the young man could only stare at the golden strand before him, pinched between a very large thumb and forefinger. "E-eat that?"

"Yes! It doesn't matter how, you just have to get my DNA inside of you somehow." All Might coughed ( _this is considerably more uncomfortable than the training_ ran through both of their minds), then shook the hair. "So! Eat!"

"B-but – "

" _Eat!_ "

* * *

One distinctly uncomfortable (and oddly sour) snack later, Izuku had sprinted home, showered, changed, eaten, brushed his teeth, and made a vague effort to comb his hair before he gave up entirely, letting it settle into its usual green bush atop his head.

The train and bus rides to Yuuei were a blur, and before he knew it, he stood before it, in all its grandeur: the high school of _heroes._ He felt a chill run down his spine at the very thought.

"Deku."

 _Now there's a voice I haven't heard in a while._

"Kacchan…?"

"Stay out of my way today." Bakugou didn't even look at him as he strode past, hands in his pockets. "Don't you dare get into Yuuei, understand me?" Though his voice was level, Izuku could almost _feel_ the anger seething beneath his words, and in spite of himself, he flinched, then cringed.

 _If I wanna be a hero…I can't keep cowering like this! This is it! This is my first step toward becoming what I've spent my whole life yearning towards! The first step into –_

And then he tripped on that first step, over his own two feet no less.

Expecting to crash face-first into the pavement, he squeezed his eyes shut tight, then – when the impact didn't come – tentatively opened them again.

"Sorry for not asking permission first," he heard a voice next to him say. "But you looked like you were gonna fall, y'know?" A giggle.

A pair of soft hands repositioned him, and when he looked to his left, there stood a girl his own age, a little shorter, with a round face, rosy cheeks, and an _absolutely adorable_ smile on her lips. As he stared, his face heating far past the temperature of the sun, she pressed her fingertips together, murmuring: "Release!"

Izuku's feet tapped on the concrete, and he shuffled in place, blinking. "I – "

"It's my Quirk," the girl explained, still smiling. "Anyway, I better get going, don't wanna be late, y'know? See ya!"

"Um, bye…?"

The entire exchange had taken less than thirty seconds, but for the first time in his life, Izuku had spoken to a girl (even if it had only been a single-letter word that she may or may not have actually heard him say!) and managed to _not_ completely embarrass himself.

Yep, today was looking good.

* * *

The next couple of hours were entirely unremarkable, with a tour of Yuuei's facilities and grounds proving to be by far the most interesting, and after a presentation by the renowned Present Mic detailing the practical exam terms and guidelines (which had been received with the loudest silence Izuku had ever heard, excluding an outburst from a distinctly uptight young man in horn-rimmed glasses who then proceeded to call out Izuku on his muttering habit), he found himself standing outside what appeared to be a full-scale replica of several city blocks.

 _Wow, this campus must be huge! And this isn't even every examinee…_

 _"Start!"_

Nobody moved, but the shout had grabbed the attention of everyone in attendance, and for a moment, there was a general murmuring as prospective students milled about, talking amongst themselves, before -

 _"What are you waiting for!? There are no timers in real life battles! Go! Start!"_ The voice of Present Mic, magnified tenfold, a hundredfold by his Quirk, boomed out across those assembled, and the exam began in total confusion, Izuku trailing in at a run at the very back of the crowd.

The robots, representing villains, were around twice Izuku's height, maybe a bit more, but they were considerably more than twice as intimidating as he. He'd darted into an alley, hoping to secure some points for himself, but seized up immediately the moment he laid eyes on a one-pointer.

Behind an array of glaring LED screens in a pitch-dark room, an emaciated man with golden hair clenched his fists.

Before Izuku could do anything, a brilliant beam of blue light shot past him, punching through the army-green of the robot's carapace and splintering the steel-alloy chassis into bits as the entire thing caught fire and collapsed, metal plates clattering to the concrete underfoot. Still staring, he could only gape soundlessly as a blonde boy wearing a decidedly unique belt around his midriff jogged past him in a manner Izuku could only describe as _dainty_ ; with a wink, the boy called back to him:

"We make a good team, _oui?_ But I don't think we'll be seeing much more of each other. _Adieu!_ "

And then he practically _skipped_ off.

 _What a nerve!_ Izuku managed to get his limbs working in time for Present Mic to bellow "Four minutes remaining!" across the arena, and for the first time, his anxiety was less about actual combat than if he'd even get a single point at this rate…

Much to his chagrin, his fellow examinees had set about felling every robot in the area, and the remaining three minutes were mostly spent sprinting from street to street, trying to find a robot that hadn't already been smashed or that wasn't about to _be_ smashed. No such luck – even the girl he'd met at the entrance was outperforming him with a Quirk that seemed to have the sole ability to make things float: dashing headlong through a group of them, touching each one to send them skyward, and then slamming them into the ground below, breaking them to bits.

"Thirty!" he heard her call, and his eyes went round enough to give the moon itself a run for its money. This girl, with this simple Quirk, was making _far_ better use of her time, and he – he'd simply been trying to get _a_ point!

 _"One minute left!"_

 _Oh no. Oh no no no._

As if on cue, a colossal explosion blossomed from the simulated city center not two blocks away from Izuku and the girl, and a moment later, the other examinees came flooding out of the woodwork like so many dozens of termites. The reason for their flight became immediately apparent – the colossal robot that Present Mic had left out of his explanation until he'd been called out on it had decided to make its entrance, almost _casually_ smashing its way through buildings to carve a path along a street far too narrow for its bulk.

Izuku, too, turned to run, but somewhere in the din of screams and crashes, a tiny voice pierced through, finding its way to his ears.

"H-help!"

He turned back, against the tide, waving his arms to clear the dust in front of him, and through the cloud, he was able to see her, pinned underneath rubble far larger than her body: the girl he'd been watching not a minute prior, her eyes watering with either fear or pain. He badly hoped it was just the former; getting injured like that during the entrance exam would be horrible…

 _Aren't they going to stop it?_ he thought, for just a moment, but then kicked himself. _No. If they were going to stop it, they'd have done so already! This…I'm the only thing standing between it and her! Nobody else is even giving her a second glance…I'm all she has!_

He drew stares as he pelted headlong _back_ through the rush of examinees all fleeing the zero-pointer:

"Is he nuts?"

"What the hell does he think he's going to accomplish?"

"Why would you go after a zero-pointer? They said it themselves, you don't get anything out of it, so you should just run, right?"

 _They have no idea…and that's…that's why I have to be her hero!_

What had All Might told him that very morning…?

 _"Clench your buttocks and scream, within your heart…SMAAASH!"_

 _This is it. It's now or never, Izuku!_

His knees bent, his fists clenched, his mind focused, he could only think of one thing: the power he'd been given – no, the power he'd _earned!_ Earned, with his own sweat, blood, and tears…!

 _"SMAAAAAASH!"_

His scream sounded off the brick and mortar all around him as he shot up like a rocket, feeling his legs break into pieces with the force, his voice echoing in his own ears until it was louder than the din below, louder even than Present Mic's shout of _"Ten seconds left!"_

With an explosion even larger than the robot itself had made, Midoriya Izuku's fist slammed into the head of a machine hundreds of times his size, only it wasn't just All Might's – _One For All_ that activated. The second his fist made contact, a blinding flash filled his vision, seeming to originate from behind his own eyes – a flash he could only remember seeing once before.

 _Phoenix…_

The two Quirks mingled, fusing into a detonation that ripped the roofs from the buildings around him and sent shockwaves roaring across the arena, a radial rush of radiant flame erupting from the point of impact and sweeping through the sky –

The zero-pointer's head shattered like glass, and molten steel from the broken shards rained down on a body falling backwards like the collapse of a skyscraper, positively leveling everything behind it as it slammed into the ground with the force of – was there even anything to compare it to, short of a meteor? Izuku himself realized, belatedly, that he was falling, but there didn't seem to be a need to worry; he was falling rather slowly, almost drifting, and as he neared the ground, he could see shock, awe, even terror in the faces of the examinees who'd stopped to watch.

As he touched down, dropping to one knee, a last gust of fire cloaked his body before the power faded and all that was left was Midoriya Izuku, kneeling in a pile of hot, greyish-white ash. Shaking a little. Rising to his feet on wobbly legs broken and healed seconds apart. Freckles standing out on his pale face.

The girl he'd rushed to save had freed herself – _of course she had, she can make things float!_ – and lay on her stomach across the broken torso of one of the robots she'd smashed a few minutes ago, with an extraordinarily peculiar expression on her face; Izuku realized what it was a second later as she slumped forward and proceeded to vomit spectacularly onto the pavement.

"What was that!?"

"Shit, and I wrote that kid off."

"I've never seen anything like it!"

"He took that thing down with one punch!"

"Yeah, and he took half the arena with it."

Thirty seconds after he'd announced that only ten seconds remained, Present Mic called a close to the practical exam, glossing over the delay.

The examinees forgave him; they'd been pretty stunned themselves.

* * *

Despite his display, like the grand finale at a fireworks show, Izuku hadn't gotten a _single point_.

He went home utterly dejected, unable to believe that his (hopefully high) score on the written exam would be enough to get him into Yuuei. They'd said the results would arrive in a week, via post.

"Izuku, sweetie, what's wrong? You've been giving that fish the stink eye for five minutes now."

"I'm fine, Mom," he told her, lying through his teeth. "Just don't have much appetite right now."

"Are you sure? You've usually inhaled half your dinner by now."

"Yeah, just…worried about the exams, I guess." This was not a lie.

"Oh! How do you think you did?" Midoriya Inko's smile was far too bright for her son to tell her the truth, so he told her only half.

"Well, I know I did pretty well on the written exam," he responded, taking a small bite of rice more to appease her worries than anything, "but I have no idea how well I did on the practical. Normal exam stuff."

To his guilty relief, his mother bought it, and the rest of the night passed without incident, as did the next week. Izuku wished he could say he'd nearly forgotten about the Yuuei exam, but the truth was, that had been almost the _only_ thing on his mind. He was almost certain he'd failed, but at the same time, there was still a spark of hope that refused to die, an ember that refused to burn out.

 _Like the flame of a phoenix…_

He supposed if he had only had One For All, he'd feel a little better about it, knowing that he could have only thrown a single punch before his entire arm broke, but the Phoenix Quirk had served to reverse the damage done by his overuse of One For All…he could have kept on going…

Even so, it was his own fault, wasn't it? He'd been frozen stiff when he had the chance to score points. He could have figured out that his own Quirk countered the drawbacks of One For All much earlier if he'd even tried.

"Izuku! It's here! _It's here!_ "

He wasn't conscious of getting up, or running for the mail. All he knew was that, a minute later, he was back in his room, at his desk, the door closed as he stared down the envelope in his hands.

Then, without warning –

 _Stupid!_

Furious with himself, Izuku ripped the envelope in two, and to his surprise, a small metal disc clattered onto the desk, projecting an image of none other than All Might himself, the man who hadn't contacted him at all since the exam.

 _" **I am here!** As a projection, of course!"_

 _Um._

 _"You may be wondering – why am I, All Might, appearing in a letter from Yuuei? The reason is simple, young Midoriya – I am in this town for one reason, and one alone._

 _"I came here…to teach at Yuuei!"_

This proclamation was followed by dead silence on Izuku's part, and after a moment, the holographic All Might went on.

 _"What's that, you say? Get to the point? Whatever I want to say to him…can be said later!? …Ah, fine, all right."_

It took Izuku a moment to realize that All Might was addressing the owner of a hand that had come in from offscreen to nudge his arm, and despite how upset he was, he couldn't hold back a snicker.

 _"Naturally, failing the practical means an automatic failure."_

The snicker died.

 _Of course. I knew this was coming. I didn't do anything at all on the practical, and it's my fault for even_ trying _to do anything! I'm…just a failure…_

 _"However!"_

Izuku's chin jolted upward, tears already trailing down his cheeks. The small, holographic All Might waggled a finger reprovingly through the tip of his nose and he pushed his chair away from the desk to get a better view.

 _"A certain someone came to see us after the exams. You may recognize her!"_

Holo-Might stepped aside to reveal a small, equally holographic television screen mounted on the wall behind him, and a moment later, it flickered on, revealing a familiar round face framed by light brown hair…

"It's her!" Izuku breathed. "That nice girl from the entrance exam…"

 _"Excuse me!"_

 _"Eh?"_ Present Mic, nonchalant as ever.

 _"Um…that boy, from the exam…curly hair, freckles…um, you know, kinda plain looking?"_

"She means me!" he gasped.

 _"Well…I noticed him a few times around the arena, and every single time I saw him, he looked really lost…but at the end, he was incredible! And…I don't know if he got any points or not, but…"_ She looked down at her feet, kicking at the ground with one shoe, then shifted her gaze back to Present Mic, suddenly fierce. _"I don't want to see someone like that fail the entrance exam, while someone with a Quirk like mine gets in!"_

 _She shouldn't put herself down like that…she was really clever back there._

 _"He saved my life!"_

The screen switched off, and All Might stepped back into view, still bearing his trademark smile. _"Thankfully, Miss Uraraka's concern was not needed! For, you see, at Yuuei, we don't simply grade based on villain points – we also grade based on rescue points! The orientation is designed to focus on the villain half of the exam, but we also award points to examinees based on heroic actions performed in combat!_

 _"And to Midoriya Izuku – **sixty** hero points!"_

Izuku could have sworn his jaw hit the desk.

 _"That puts you at number seven in the exam rankings, and number one for rescue points!_

 _"Young Midoriya...welcome to **your hero academia!** "_

Midoriya Inko jumped with fright at the howl of triumph that erupted from her son's bedroom.

* * *

That very same night, Izuku found himself jogging along the very same beach he'd spent ten months cleaning up, on his way to meet All Might.

He could see the emaciated form of his hero standing by the shore, hands in the pockets of his usual cargo pants, posture poor. Next to him, less than half his height, stood a hunched, elderly woman with her grey hair in a tight bun.

A little confused, Izuku slowed his pace, hailing the pair with a "hey!" As one, they pivoted on the sand, taking a few steps forward to meet him; All Might raised a hand in greeting, while the elderly woman squinted, scrutinizing Izuku.

"Is this the one, Toshinori?" she asked, as if he wasn't there.

"Yeah. This is him. Midoriya Izuku." All Might introduced him to the woman, and she nodded.

"Ahh, yes. This one. The _Phoenix._ Your Quirk is a strange one, child."

"H-huh? What d'you mean?" He'd been expecting a joyous reunion, not a stranger commenting on his Quirk.

"Well…it was initially described as activating on death, but you didn't seem to be very dead during the entrance exam," she went on. "Oh! Toshinori hasn't introduced me, has he? I'm Recovery Girl."

"Recovery Girl!?" Izuku gasped. "The Youthful Heroine!"

A chuckle. "I daresay I'm not so youthful anymore. But I digress." Izuku shook her outstretched hand, and she returned to the topic at hand: "However, Toshinori tells me that he's also chosen you as the successor of One For All. Am I correct in stating that this is what you used to destroy the zero-pointer?"

"Y-yeah, it was. It broke both my legs and my arm, too." Turning to All Might, Izuku frowned. "Why didn't you tell me this would happen…? I thought I was ready!"

The number one hero sighed, hanging his head. "I'm sorry, young Midoriya. Your body can handle One For All without splitting apart, yes – but it cannot withstand the force of one hundred percent without sustaining damage in the process. When you jumped the way you did, you used all of One For All, as when you swung your arm. And that's where things get interesting…"

"You see," Recovery Girl cut in, "the fact that your _own_ Quirk triggered after your usage of One For All tells me that perhaps its trigger isn't _death,_ but rather some sort of damage threshold. You broke three of your limbs within five seconds, and that seems to have been enough. My theory is that the activation mechanism for your Quirk is based off of how much damage you sustain over a period of time, and if that exceeds a certain rate, it will trigger. Incidentally, you don't have any scarring, do you?"

"Not on my arms or legs, no. Why?"

"That confirms it. The ash you left behind at the entrance exam contained your DNA. The other part of my theory is that your Quirk doesn't _heal_ you, but rather spontaneously incinerates and regenerates damaged portions of your body."

Izuku blinked. "I don't feel anything different when it happens, though…"

"No, you don't. It's instantaneous. You don't even have _time_ to feel it. So far, there don't seem to be any adverse effects, but all the same, I'll be keeping an eye on you."

"What interests _me_ here are two things," All Might spoke up. "One, the power boost from the Phoenix Quirk seems to augment One For All to some extent, or at least synergize with it. There didn't seem to be much fire-related damage to the zero-pointer, but the shockwave from the hit scorched the top half of the arena. Lucky that you hit it in the air like that, or we'd have a _lot_ of burned examinees to explain away."

"Good thing you didn't use it until then, either," Recovery Girl grumbled. "If you'd have done that to a one-pointer and blown up a city block like that for a single point…"

"Two," All Might went on, "it seems that while you can sustain damage from One For All, it's erased by your own Quirk if you go overboard. You have a safety net, which sounds great, but judging from what Recovery Girl has said, it doesn't _heal_ your body – it replaces the damaged parts."

Izuku immediately saw where this was going. "So…if I rely on my Quirk to mitigate the effects of using One For All, I won't actually be able to adjust to its power. It's like building muscle – it's the healing process that strengthens you, right?"

"Excellent observation. Yes, that's exactly my point. You _can_ use them to play off one another – perhaps it would even serve to train your Quirk if you kept doing it – but if you simply use One For All at 100% to the point where you end up forcing a regeneration without trying to hone both your body and mind to use it otherwise, you will never be able to properly control this power.

"And maybe you're thinking – _I can just use One For All to trigger my Quirk over and over to keep up the power boost!_ But we don't know the limits of your Quirk, either. And before you go thinking that this only affects you, and maybe that cycle of self-destruction and regeneration could become a viable fighting style – remember, one day you will have to pass on One For All to someone else, and if you don't know how to control it properly, how will you ever teach them?"

A nod from Izuku, who stared at his clenched fist for a moment before looking up. "I'd…I'd like to test my limits sometime, if that's okay. But… I'd also like to be worthy of inheriting One For All! I don't want to just cheat and rely on a built-in reset button, even if I can train it to the point where I _can_ sustain it. I…I worked hard to _earn_ this power. I want to work hard to grow it."

For a moment, All Might fixed him with his sunken gaze, pupils glowing in the darkness, and Recovery Girl tapped a finger to her chin, thinking. Then, suddenly, All Might was smiling, and he'd pulled Izuku into a gruff hug, patting him roughly on the back. "I knew I made the right choice with you, young Midoriya."

"If I may," Recovery Girl interrupted, "you still have _two_ powerful Quirks within you, and while I would be lying if I said I wasn't interested in seeing the regenerative properties of the Phoenix Quirk myself…"

"That's also true," All Might admitted. "Yuuei's training program will serve to test the limits of your mind, your body, and your powers, and once you've figured those out, it'll whip you into shape like nothing else most people have ever been through. Perhaps after the American Dream Plan you won't think much of it, but it's still one of the most difficult – if not _the_ most – programs in all of Japan, if not the world.

"Try not to worry too much about it just yet. For now, you're in, and that in itself is something to be proud of. You've come a long way from the scrawny crybaby of ten months ago!"

"T-thank you, All Might." Izuku bowed, respectfully, and when he straightened, he tilted his head to stare at the stars, a small smile growing on his face. "…I really made it…"

 _I've got a long way to go, All Might. But…I won't let you down! I_ will _be a hero!_


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:**

 **This is probably my least favourite chapter so far, I wrote it in quite a state - and this is after my third revision, it was worse before. I've had finals all week, so that's been fun too.**

* * *

 _Wow, this place is huge!_

Midoriya Izuku's initial awe faded into anxiety as it became apparent that Yuuei was _so_ huge that he was having extremely difficulty locating classroom 1-A, even on a map.

"I'm gonna be late…" he muttered, wringing his hands; turning a corner, he found himself facing a long hallway, one side of which was completely covered in windows, the other consisting of classrooms. He was just wandering aimlessly by then, so when he glanced up at the (huge) classroom door to his right and saw the characters "1-A" printed upon it, descending the door from top to bottom, his heart leapt, then immediately sunk.

 _I really hope Kacchan's not in –_

 _Boom._

Kacchan was in there.

With a sigh, he pushed the massive wooden slab to the side, and his new classmates stared blankly back at him – all except for a young man with glasses and close-cropped dark hair, whom he immediately recognized from the orientation.

"Your behavior is an insult to both the makers of this desk and the generations of students before us who have graced it with their presence!"

 _"And just who the hell do you think you are!?"_

"My name is Iida Tenya, of Somei Private Academy!"

 _"Somei?_ No wonder you're such a stuck-up shitrag!" Bakugou snorted, leaning back in his chair with eyes closed and his nose in the air, boots on the desk.

"Jeez. What an ass." A guy sitting near the door spoke up, and Izuku didn't recognize him; perhaps he'd been in a different arena during the entrance exam. His hair was a golden-blonde to rival All Might's, but the style was completely different, and a jagged black streak cut across one temple.

Just then, both Bakugou and Iida Tenya noticed Izuku standing in the doorway, and before he could even react, Iida had abandoned his conflict with Bakugou and crossed the room in a single stride to stand before Izuku with his hand outstretched, bowing as he did so.

"You!"

"I…"

"My name is Iida Tenya! I am from – "

"Somei Private Academy, yeah, I uh, I heard. I'm, um, Midoriya Izuku." Izuku pushed through his stuttering and took the hand offered, shaking it and bowing in return.

"Midoriya. I see." Iida pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, then nodded: "I apologize for my behavior to you during the entrance exams. It seems I misjudged you."

Over Iida's shoulder, Izuku knew Bakugou was glaring daggers at him, but before he could say anything, there was a squeal of delight from behind him, and the faint scent of vanilla met his nostrils; turning, he found himself face-to-face with –

"Hey! It's you!" he started, lamely, as his face flushed red as a tomato.

"Y-yeah! Me. Um, thanks for saving me back there. I never really got the chance…" The girl he'd saved during the entrance exams shifted her hips, placing her weight on one leg and bending the other knee to rest the toe of her shoe on the tiled floor; the next moment, her awkwardness vanished entirely as she went on, unprompted: "I'm so excited I got in! And I'm really happy to see you got in too, but I mean, how couldn't you? That punch was awesome!" she gushed, miming a punch as she spoke.

"I'm pretty surprised myself, I mean, um – "

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't even introduce myself! I'm Uraraka Ochako!"

"Ah, I'm…"

 _"Deku!"_ Bakugou shouted, and Izuku jumped, whipping around to face him. "I suggest you don't talk to this nerd if you don't wanna end up just as much a Quirkless loser as he is!"

"Quirkless!?" Uraraka's attitude immediately sank from bubbly to furious, and the mood in the room underwent a tangible shift. "Did you even see the entrance exam footage!?"

"If you're just here to socialize," drawled a voice from the floor, "I suggest you leave."

Izuku and the girl – Uraraka, she'd called herself – jumped aside, swinging their heads around for the source of the voice; they didn't have to look far, since its owner spoke again from their position in a grungy, mustard-colored sleeping bag on the floor that had perhaps been bright yellow at some point. The reason for its sorry state became apparent as the man inside actually _rolled_ into the room, holding a juice box to his lips and draining it dry.

"This is the hero course," he went on, his lazy slur the loudest voice in the room, then went silent for as long as it took for the other students to fall quiet. Effortlessly, he unzipped the sleeping bag, stepping from its confines and getting to his feet with surprising agility; tossing the juice box into the wastebasket, he strolled around to stand behind the desk at the front of the room, blinking slowly at the assembled students. "It took you eight seconds to quiet down. Eight seconds in a combat situation could cost you your life."

A pause. Izuku stared at the scarf wrapped loosely around the man's neck, looking more like an unraveled roll of bandages than a scarf.

"You lot aren't very rational, are you?" Without waiting for a response, he went on: "I'm Aizawa Shouta. I'll be your homeroom teacher here at Yuuei. Pleased to meet you all."

 _Homeroom teacher!? Then…this guy is a pro hero too…?_

"Quickly, now. Head down to the locker rooms and change into your gym clothes, then meet me down at field A."

"But what about our entrance ceremony?" Uraraka asked, shock written on every line of her face, but Aizawa simply blinked again, studying her through half-lidded eyes.

"Yuuei's known for its freestyle education system. That applies to us teachers as well, and as your teacher, I don't believe there's a need for such frivolities. Come, now. I expect you all down at the field within fifteen minutes."

And then he was gone.

* * *

It took 1-A a solid five minutes to find the locker rooms, though Izuku wasn't sure if this was because of just how _huge_ Yuuei was or…well, because of how huge the place was. _Did it take us this long because of distance, or because it's a maze in here…?_

He didn't particularly remember getting changed, but nonetheless, within a few minutes he stood with the rest of his class next to a baseball diamond, where Aizawa stood stock-still with his hands in his pockets.

"Eight minutes," he told them, without even checking a watch. "Faster than last year's class, I suppose. There's a reason there's no class 2-A."

Dead silence. _Does that mean they were expelled!?_ Izuku could feel himself sweating already. Next to him, he could hear Uraraka's teeth grinding.

"Now. In middle school, you weren't allowed to use your Quirks during standard physical assessments. This is irrational. Our society is effectively Quirk-based, and obtaining a non-Quirk-based measurement of one's physical abilities is misleading and altogether useless." Aizawa retrieved a softball from the scarf he wore (the class was flabbergasted; how had it stayed put?) and tossed it up, catching it as it fell, before continuing. "Today, you will be allowed to use your Quirks as you see fit. Bakugou Katsuki."

"Eh?"

"He never stops glaring, does he?" whispered Uraraka, low enough for only Izuku to hear, and he nodded mutely.

"Throw this ball. Use your Quirk." Aizawa pointed to the pitcher's mound, tossing Bakugou the ball, and when the blonde had taken up a position at the center of the mound, he glanced back over at their teacher. "Only condition is that you don't leave the ring."

Bakugou stared at the softball a moment, then shifted his gaze to the sky, clenching a fist around the ball and winding up for the throw. Izuku knew what he was going to do before Bakugou had even moved, and with a scream –

 ** _"DIE!"_**

There was an explosion, centered on Bakugou's palm, and the softball shot sky high and out of sight. A few seconds later, they saw its smoking trail plummet to the ground a fair distance off, and Aizawa held up a small device, showing the class the results of his throw.

"How far did you throw in middle school?" Aizawa asked Bakugou.

"Sixty-seven."

"You see now?" Aizawa gestured to the screen – _seven hundred and five meters!?_ Izuku thought, bewildered – and pocketed the device, surveying them. "It's important for you all to know both your potential and your limits. That's what today's about."

"Wow!"

"This is exciting!"

" _Awesome!_ "

"You think this is _awesome?_ " Aizawa breathed, his voice suddenly deadly quiet, and despite his lack of volume, the entire class shut up immediately. "Over the next three years, Yuuei will put you through the wringer. This isn't known as the most difficult hero course in Japan for nothing. Right – " and his voice returned to its usual tone " – the lowest-scoring student across all eight tests will be expelled."

Utter silence followed this proclamation. _He sure has a talent for shocking us,_ Izuku thought, then it hit him. _Expelled!? Oh, no…I still can't control either of my Quirks…and even after All Might's training, I'm still not exactly the strongest or the fastest…_

His pulse racing, he followed the rest of his class as Aizawa beckoned, leading them to the gymnasium for the start of the tests.

A few of the tests weren't exactly suited for most Quirks, namely the seated toe-touch – the only one of Izuku's classmates who had any Quirk advantage was an extremely tall young man whose multiple arms were connected by a thick webbing, and who was able to grow an extra arm on the end of another arm to reach the toe of his shoes.

After the initial stretching test came the 50-meter dash, where Izuku was completely outshone by Bakugou. The spiky-haired blonde had been paired up with him for the dash and, the second Aizawa had said "go", had launched himself off the ground with a series of controlled explosions, crossing the distance in three seconds flat. Izuku himself barely scraped seven. The highest score, however, went to a girl with a flared ponytail, who lifted her shirt and produced from her midriff _an entire motorcycle_ , which crossed the 50 meters in a mere two seconds.

 _Well…he did say we could use our Quirks however we saw fit._

He figured the grip strength test wouldn't be too bad, but even though he scored fairly high, he was once again blown out of the water by one Mezo Shouji, who turned out to be the same octopus-armed student Izuku had noticed in the seated toe-touch and who'd somehow produced well over five hundred kilograms of grip strength, compared to Izuku's merely "above-average" forty-odd kilos. _What's it like to have a Quirk that you can use as easily as you blink?_ he thought, not without some bitterness, but shook it; being jealous of his classmates wasn't going to solve anything.

Next up, the standing long jump.

 _What can I do…? I don't want to come in dead last…and if I use One For All, I have to go all out and totally break myself in order to keep going…_

"Midoriya." Aizawa's drawl reached his ears through his thoughts, and Izuku snapped to attention, jogging up to the starting line.

"Ah, sorry, Aizawa-sensei."

"You can start whenever you're ready. Just don't take all day."

Izuku bent his knees, raising his forearms with his fists balled. _I think I know what to do…but I don't know how well it's going to work…_

He clenched his muscles, preparing.

 _Okay…on the count of three…I have to break at least three limbs to trigger Phoenix, right? That seems like it's the threshold…_

A mental countdown. _One…_

He balled his fists and brought them up to his chest.

 _Two…_

One For All began to surge through his legs…

 _Three!_

He bit back a scream as he pushed off with both legs, throwing his arms back behind him for an extra burst of force; the acceleration was several times the force of gravity, and his limbs all broke at once, but the next instant, the pain vanished and he began to feel oddly…light.

It was then that he realized he wasn't falling.

The limbs he'd just regenerated were ablaze, but there was something else: flickering, from the corner of his eye, and when he turned his head to glance over his shoulder –

 _His entire back was on fire._

Izuku knew it was his Quirk, but that didn't make it any less terrifying. He also had no idea what was keeping him aloft, but he'd leapt the _entire allotted distance_ for the long jump in less than a second and was now sailing off across the school fields, toward the perimeter; without thinking, he threw one fist towards the earth, punching a scorched crater into the pristine grass below him but managing to stop his flight. "Phew…"

"Midoriya-kun! _Midoriya-kun!_ "

Iida Tenya came sprinting across the turf, calling his name, and Izuku looked up, blinking in the sunlight. "Iida-kun?"

" _Midor_ – oh! You are okay. Aizawa-sensei asked me to check on you."

 _Straight to the point, huh?_ "Yeah, I'm fine. Just wanted to make a splash," he joked, weakly. Turning his attention back to the crater he'd left, a frown crossed his lips; he _definitely_ hadn't been channeling One For All when he'd made that punch, and the crater was much smaller than he'd have left if he _had_ been, but it was there nonetheless, and burned to boot. _Was that…?_

"Well, if that is all, we should rejoin our classmates by the baseball field," Iida went on, oblivious to Izuku's internal monologue. "The groundskeepers will handle this!" Okay, maybe he wasn't entirely oblivious, but he'd misunderstood Izuku's concerned stare.

The pair made their way back over to the rest of the class, Izuku uncomfortably aware of everyone's eyes on him, particularly Aizawa's.

"Glad you could rejoin us, Midoriya," came their teacher's lazy drawl, and he ran a hand through his lank hair. "Now that we're all together again, we can move on to the next test…"

"What _was_ that?" Uraraka asked him, as they made their way back into the gymnasium, but Izuku just gave a nervous chuckle.

"That was my Quirk. I, um, I'm not too good with it yet…"

"That was _amazing_!" she gushed, eyes sparkling, and Izuku knew he was blushing; thankfully, Aizawa began describing the next test as they walked, sparing him the embarrassment of having to respond.

The next tests went without incident, Izuku unable to find a place to use his Quirk properly. Frankly, he couldn't see where such excessive, explosive force would fall into place with upper body training or sidestepping, nor endurance running, a test that was eventually called off when neither Izuku, Bakugou, or their classmate (an expressionless boy with two-tone hair and heterochromia, as well as what looked like burn scars on the left side of his face) had tired after a solid five minutes.

Finally, they returned to the baseball diamond for the rest of the class to wrap up the testing with their own throws; Iida surprised them all with a display of agility that involved using the engines in his calves to flip forward and kick the ball out of the air, sending it a few hundred meters, while Uraraka's throw flew entirely out of sight until the handheld device Aizawa carried let out a beep and he showed the class the display, which simply displayed the lemniscate of infinity.

"Infinity!? Just how far can she throw!?"

"Is that even possible?"

"Well, my Quirk is called Zero Gravity, and there's no friction or gravity in space…so if it exits the earth's gravitational pull, then I guess it could actually go on forever, unless it hits an asteroid or something…"

"Midoriya. You're up."

Izuku stepped up to the plate.

He knew what he was about to do would hurt, but he wasn't sure how else to go about performing this throw; he didn't want to come in dead last, but his results on everything but the standing long jump had been average at best, and his other scores wouldn't compensate.

So, gritting his teeth in anticipation of the pain he was about to put himself through, Midoriya Izuku wound up, feeling One For All flood his right arm, and –

 _"SMAAAAASH!"_

The ball broke the sound barrier and hurtled at least a thousand feet into the air, coming down hard a little under a kilometer away. Izuku's arm broke his bones instead and flopped limply at his side.

"Nine hundred and sixty seven meters," Aizawa read aloud, studying him down the length of his nose; he knew tears of pain were streaming down his face, and it was obvious he'd broken his arm from the way it hung and the way it swelled with blood. "Acceptable. But you may want to go and see Recovery Girl for that arm."

"Recovery Girl's here too?" he asked, stupidly, and a blonde boy – not Bakugou, nor the one who'd insulted Bakugou earlier, but the one who'd taunted Izuku during the entrance exams – stepped forward, a sparkling smile on his face.

" _Oui_ , but of course she is! She is the heart of Yuuei! It wouldn't be possible to conduct such dangerous tests without her, _non?_ "

"U-um, sure, yeah. That's fine."

Izuku, however, had no plans to do anything of the sort. He figured that once he was out of earshot of the class, he could simply launch another punch and a kick to trigger the renewal process, and that was exactly what he did.

Once he'd made his way around to the far entrance to the locker rooms, Izuku placed the slip on a bench and stretched his uninjured limbs, preparing. _I've done this already. This should be fine._

 _"SMAAAASH!"_

 _Crack._ One arm down.

 _"SMAAAAAASH!"_

 _Crack._ There went his leg.

Stumbling, Izuku collapsed to the ground, unable to pick himself up with three broken limbs. There was no rush of warmth, no erasure of pain, no burst of flame – only agony and the sound of his own choking, gasping breaths echoing off the brick walls around him.

His eyes watered from the pain, and he struggled to crawl towards the doorway with his broken arms, reaching, reaching, wincing, knowing he was only going to make everything worse but unable to see any other solutions –

"Deku-kun…?"

"Uraraka-san…?"

Her voice was scared; his was faint.

"What are you doing here, Uraraka-san?"

"Aizawa-sensei sent me after you. He said my Quirk would be best suited in case you had to be carried, since it would reduce any pressure being put on your body by gravity…even though that octopus guy could have carried you no problem, you'd still be pushing down and hurting yourself more. I was gonna just go through the regular locker rooms, but then I heard you yell…" She knelt by his side, eyes round with concern, and Izuku tried to wave her away with one of his broken arms, managing only to wince in pain and drop the affected limb.

"I'm f-fine. I'll be okay. It's just my Quirk didn't work like I thought it would…but that's why we're at Yuuei, right? To figure that stuff out." He gave her what he sorely hoped was a brave smile, though he suspected it might have turned out more like a grimace; regardless, Uraraka touched five fingers to the exposed skin of his forearm, and he immediately felt an incredibly curious sensation unlike anything he'd ever felt before, followed by a piercing pain as the weight of his shoe dragged his limp leg down. "Ah!"

"Oh! Sorry, sorry!" Uraraka apologized frantically, scrambling to make his shoes weightless as well; when she'd done so, she scooped him up in her arms, taking great care not to touch his injured limbs any more than she had to.

He knew he was crying, and not just from the pain, but Uraraka didn't say anything about it, and he was grateful.

The next few minutes were a hazy, teary-eyed blur that ended when he realized that an elderly woman's lips, stretched out like some horrid proboscis, had made contact with his bare skin, and despite his confused revulsion, he looked up at their owner: Recovery Girl.

 _That…that would explain it._

The pain began to fade almost immediately; the relief wasn't instant, but it was rapid, and that was all he could ask for. By the time his limbs had healed completely, he felt absolutely exhausted, but forced himself to stay awake just long enough to thank Uraraka.

He registered that he was in a hospital bed of sorts, the sterile white sheets rising up around his body as he sunk into the medical quasi-mattress below him.

"Uraraka-san…?" he mumbled, bleary-eyed, but Recovery Girl answered him.

"She made sure you were okay before she left. Said she had to go change and get back to class. You just get some rest, okay?"

"But it's my first day…"

"Do you want it to be your last day, too? Lay still and try to relax."

There were a few moments of silence, then Recovery Girl spoke up again.

"Did One For All do that to you?"

Izuku nodded, sleepily.

"Isn't your Quirk supposed to reverse the damage?"

"That's what I thought, too…it worked the first time…"

"You must have hit your Quirk's limit, then. I don't imagine a power like that can be used repeatedly with no repercussions."

 _I see…that's just another reason to learn to control One For All! If I can only rely on my power every so often, then after the initial activation, I'm only good for one more attack!_

Izuku drifted off to sleep with that thought in mind.

* * *

"Deku-kun!"

"Midoriya-kun!"

Iida stopped, blinking at Uraraka. "Why are you calling him that?"

"Calling him what?"

"'Deku.' It means _puppet_ , does it not?"

"Well, um, yeah, but I heard someone call him that this morning, and – "

"Ah, it's Izuku. Midoriya Izuku. I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself properly."

"Oh…I like Deku, too, though! It has that _you can do it!_ sort of feel to it, y'know? _Dekiru!_ " Uraraka Ochako had a sparkle in her eyes that could reduce Izuku to a blushing, spluttering mess, and he knew it.

"D-Deku's fine too!" he yelped, a little too loudly, and Iida pinched the bridge of his nose, though he was smiling.

The day hadn't been particularly eventful aside from the Quirk Apprehension Test; afterward, they'd returned to the classroom and simply taken a few written aptitude tests, which Uraraka had handed Izuku copies of to take home. "They're not something you can cheat on, they're personal assessments," she'd explained, to a stammering Izuku. "Aizawa-sensei just said for you to bring them in tomorrow morning."

"Do you two walk home usually?" Izuku asked, and both shook their heads.

"I'm from Tokyo," Iida explained, shortly. "I don't live far from here. The bus will get me there."

"I have to take the train over to Shizuoka Prefecture." Uraraka was a little more verbose.

"O-oh, really? Me too! Maybe we're neighbors," Izuku tried to joke, but she took him seriously and shook her head.

"I'm from Mie. It's just that I have an apartment in Shizuoka…my parents wanted to get one in Tokyo, too, so I'd be closer, but it's way too expensive there, and…" She didn't finish, and the other two didn't press the matter.

Except, after a moment, Izuku.

"Yeah, I…I know how you feel," he admitted. "Yuuei's expensive. Even with my father working full time in America, we're only barely able to make ends meet with my schooling. I can't imagine having to pay for an apartment on top of that. Your parents must really want you to go to Yuuei, huh?"

"Yeah, they…" She started to look a little awkward, but just then, Iida announced that his bus stop was in the opposite direction from the train station at the next fork, and they waved goodbye to him, the pair of them heading left as Iida broke off to the right.

The two of them were silent for a few minutes before Uraraka spoke again.

"Do you live at home?" she asked him, voice soft.

"Yeah. The same house my whole life."

"…Me too. I never lived anywhere else until I moved to Shizuoka to attend Yuuei."

"You've only lived here for a few days!?"

"Well, a week. I moved in the day I got my letter. Gotta learn the place, y'know?" She was smiling again, and Izuku relaxed a little. "Still, I don't really know my way around except to the market and the train station. Maybe you can show me around sometime?"

 _Did she just…? Did a girl just ask me…?_

"Y-yeah, sure, if you want," Izuku offered.

 _No. Oh no. This is the_ worst _possible sequence of events. What have I gotten myself into!?_

"Great!" She pumped her fist in a cheer, already excited, and in spite of himself, Izuku couldn't help but smile at her.

The train ride south to Shizuoka took around an hour, which started in another bout of silence, but when the train stopped in mid-Tokyo and let on a round of new passengers, Uraraka burst into a fit of giggles, which she tried to stifle with her hand. The sight of her, with her pure smile, eyes shut tight with laughter, her hand covering her lips, was enough to send Izuku into a fit of blushes; by the time he'd managed to compose himself, she'd calmed down enough to give a discreet nod in the direction of one of the new passengers, a man whose Quirk appeared to be spontaneously generating biscuits from his ears. Every so often, he'd reach up, grab another, and chow down, and Izuku had to admit it was a little silly to watch.

They made small talk for the trip to Shizuoka, stopping occasionally to gaze out of the windows as a pleasant late-afternoon rain rolled in and they whipped past city blocks and fields of tall grasses. Thankfully, Biscuit Ears didn't get off at their station, and when the two students disembarked, Uraraka breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness. If I'd have had to watch him eat one more…"

A shaky laugh from Izuku. "Y-yeah…"

"Well…" Uraraka began, as they left the station. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah! Um, sure, we probably rode the same train this morning and didn't even know it."

"Oh, yeah! I bet we did!" She beamed at him, laughing again, and poor Izuku's heart melted in a very different way than his Phoenix Quirk would have it happen. "See you!"

"B-bye!"

And then they ended up walking in the same direction.

 _Well, this is awkward._

"So, uh…is your apartment nearby? My house is a few streets away."

"Oh! Um, yeah, I'm in the complex a few streets off, too. Small world, right?" She laughed again, but to Izuku, it sounded a little forced, and his heart sank. It _was_ forced – but not for the reasons Izuku feared. No, it was forced because Uraraka Ochako's chest had filled with an unpleasant fluttering sensation, and she didn't know how else to handle it.

Their conversation went nowhere noteworthy after that, and eventually they parted ways, Izuku heading to his home and leaving Uraraka to walk the rest of the short way to her apartment alone.

"Should I have offered to walk her home? Would that be weird!? What if she's offended that I didn't? What if asking her would have driven her off!?"

 _Bonk._

He'd been so wrapped up in his own muttering that he hadn't noticed his crooked trajectory until he walked headfirst into the doorframe; rubbing his bruised forehead, he sidestepped and pushed the door open, only to be immediately enveloped in a warm, crying mass that he recognized as his mother, Midoriya Inko.

"Izuku! My sweet little boy! You look so grown up in that uniform! How was your first day? Are you okay? I made katsudon!"

"Mom, it's okay, I'm fine," he mumbled, returning her hug. "It went okay, we just took a physical aptitude test. They gave me some paper tests to take home, too, so I'm gonna go fill those out after dinner, okay?"

"Of course, sweetie! Are you hungry?"

"Um – "

 _Rrrrr._ His stomach answered for him.

Both Izuku and his mother laughed, through tears (the Midoriyas had always cried to express themselves, for as long as Izuku could remember; he didn't particularly mind, he always felt better after a good cry), and with the smell of _katsudon_ filtering in from the kitchen, his mouth began to water as well as his eyes, and he set off to toss his bag into his bedroom and change for dinner.

* * *

When Izuku handed in his paper aptitude tests the next morning, Aizawa scanned over them for a moment, then met his student's eyes with his own piercing red gaze.

"Midoriya."

"Yes, Aizawa-sensei?"

"You can't control your power."

It was a statement, not a question, and Izuku gulped, nodding mutely.

Aizawa sighed, closing his eyes; when he opened them again, his expression had softened – though perhaps _softened_ wasn't quite the word. He simply looked…sleepier. "Midoriya, I am going to tell you this once. If you can't figure out how to control your power, then you will never be a hero."

Izuku's blood chilled, but the bedraggled man before him hadn't finished. "Furthermore, there is clearly more to your Quirk than simply regenerating damage. What exactly that more is, I can't say, but that as a teacher of Yuuei, it's my job to either help you figure it out or tell you that there's no hope for you. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Aizawa-sensei," he said again, only without inflection this time. "I understand."

"I hope you do." Another sigh. "You may return to your seat. I'll be starting in a few minutes. Sero Hanta!" he added, calling another student, and Izuku slunk back to his own desk.

His second day at Yuuei was largely uneventful; half of the first period was spent discussing the results of their aptitude tests. Despite his unbeaten record on the standing long jump and third place in the softball throw, he'd scored at the lower end of the class (rank 17 out of 20) but still felt a pang seeing _Mineta_ _Minoru_ at the bottom of the list, knowing what fate awaited that student…

"As for your expulsion, Mineta, that was simply a logical ruse designed to bring out the best in all of you. Nobody wants to be expelled on their first day, do they?"

There was a collective slap as all twenty students' faces made contact with the palms of their hands.

 _So you're saying I broke three of my limbs for no reason?_ Izuku was incredulous. Not that Aizawa had had any means of knowing what would happen to him – hell, Izuku himself hadn't known that Phoenix had a recovery period! – but even so…he felt _incredibly_ stupid.

"Throughout the course of your first year at Yuuei, aside from the typical high school subjects you'll be taking, you'll be studying the foundations of heroics. This isn't limited to the flashy applications of your Quirks – you'll also be reading about theory and law as they relate to hero work. That said, you _will_ be working on your combat abilities, decision-making, and training your Quirks, which is what today's activities will be about." Aizawa's gaze settled on Izuku for an unpleasant, lingering moment before returning to the class as a whole. "Yesterday's aptitude tests were designed to determine the strength and limits of your Quirks. Today is designed to determine how effectively you can use them against others." He shuffled some papers on his desk, still standing, then held up the stack, peering at it as if it had slighted him; after a moment, he set the papers back down and spoke again. "You will be meeting your instructor for today at arena A. Be there by eight forty-five. That gives you – " the bell rang, signifying the end of homeroom period " – twenty minutes. You're dismissed."

Aizawa Shouta left the room.


	4. Chapter 4

**I'd like to start off by addressing some reviews.**

 **For starters: thank you for all the support. Within 3 chapters this story's already grown to a decent size, and I'm proud of that. Really, I appreciate it.  
**

 **Deathwing676** **– In both the manga and the anime, he deals quite a bit of collateral damage to the zero-pointer, which is worth zero points. In addition, during the Battle Trial Arc, points are** _ **taken away**_ **for collateral damage. Ergo, wouldn't receive any villain points for destroying a robot explicitly stated to be worth zero points, and he wouldn't receive** _ **any**_ **points for causing immense damage to the top half of the arena.**

 **Sandman001** **– Right? We're introduced to third years, other departments, and 1-B, but there's no mention of second years. Why? Aizawa. People act like that's just a tidbit thrown in for laughs. He ruined the dreams of twenty people. They probably went on to become villains.**

 **TBM10** **– Izuku only got 200m more because his pitching is terrible. He needs baseball lessons.**

 **I also have no plans on changing Izuku's personality for any reason – he's a cinnamon roll** _ **and it must stay that way.**_ **BAMF Izuku shows up in moments of need, such as the fight against Muscular. He's not a badass for the sake of it, that's just not who the character is. As for recovery time…it would get really dull if the Phoenix Quirk was that overpowered. It needs drawbacks. It's like playing a game with all the cheat codes on, there's just no challenge or fun to it. Would it be amusing to write out Izuku able to harness deadly explosive fire-force at-will and heal himself constantly? Yeah, for about one combat scene, but his growth comes from his setbacks and defeats, not from constant victory. Look at Bakugou, he failed to grow as a character until everything stopped going his way.**

… **That said, I actually really don't like how close-to-canon this story is. I'm looking to break away from canon, but I do still want to cover major events such as the training camp/Overhaul/festival. Do I want this to be a story of change, or a story of contrast? I don't know.**

* * *

Izuku fell in with Iida and Uraraka once more as the class filed out of the room; Uraraka's excited babble didn't quite reach his brain through the flurry of his own thoughts, and Iida hadn't responded to her beyond an occasional acknowledgement.

 _What are we doing? Using them against others…I can't do that! If I hit someone with One For All…that would probably kill them…_

"Deku-kun, watch out!"

Uraraka's call snapped him back to the present just in time for him to avoid a face-first collision with one of the poles that supported the awning overhead.

"T-thanks, Uraraka-san," he muttered, scratching the back of his head self-consciously. "Sorry, I, um, just got lost in thought."

A giggle. "I noticed. Whatcha thinkin' about?"

"Ah, n-nothing." He wasn't keen on telling a cute girl he'd just met that his Quirk had the power to make someone's limbs explode off their body.

The class, as one, made their way down to the grounds, over to one of the mock city blocks set aside for hero training ("Wow, they sure have a lot of these, don't they?" Uraraka marveled, in her typical innocent fashion). The entire place was devoid of any human activity other than their own, and for a moment, Izuku thought that perhaps they'd gone the wrong way – until, out of nowhere, a blur of blue, red and yellow slammed into the ground ten meters away, pelting those nearest with shards of pavement.

"Jesus Christ, what the hell!?" The lanky blonde from earlier.

"Calm down," sighed a girl with a pair of what looked like audio jacks dangling from her earlobes; with a start, Izuku realized that they were part of her body and not simply an augmentation. "You don't have to be so loud."

"Did – did you not just see – !?"

" _ **I am here!"**_

 _All Might!_ Izuku had learned from the acceptance letter that his idol (and mentor now, he supposed) had taken up a teaching post at Yuuei, but even so, he felt a little thrill seeing the man in person again, in full muscle form. The rest of the class was star-struck; after a solid ten seconds of stunned silence, All Might waved a beefy hand in front of his face.

"All Might to 1-A? Uh… _ **listen up, class!**_ "

His booming voice jolted Izuku's classmates back to the present, and a few calmed down enough to express their surprise…or disdain for those who expressed surprise.

"All Might…?"

"For real? Here at Yuuei?"

"What's he doing here!?"

"Weren't you paying attention to the acceptance letter? He said he was teaching here this semester."

" _Shut up and listen!"_

"That's quite enough, young Bakugou. Now! I take it Aizawa told you all what you've gathered here for?" All Might stood, proudly, towering over the class with his arms crossed, but his trademark smile faltered when not one person spoke up, a few shaking their heads. "…No? Not a word?"

A general muttering. More head-shaking.

"Well then! Not to worry – today, we'll be testing you out in _battle trials!_ "

 _This is exactly what I was afraid of,_ and Izuku shuddered, feeling a cold sweat begin to pour down his back.

Imagining the splintered, broken remains of one of his new classmates plastered across the faded concrete.

* * *

Okay, so it wasn't that bad.

The objective of the battle trial was not to take each other down in a battle of raw strength, but rather for one team to protect a fake bomb while the other attempted to destroy it.

"This isn't so bad. We might be able to avoid an outright confrontation. Maybe I'll get matched with someone who has a combat-oriented Quirk. Maybe I'll get matched against people without offensive Quirks. Out of everyone here, the only person I know who – "

"Deku-kun, you're muttering," Uraraka broke in, and Izuku stiffened.

They'd been given their hero costumes based on designs they'd submitted alongside their applications or costumes they'd brought in themselves, with the requisite support items attached or enclosed from the school's own support department or one of its affiliated support companies; Uraraka's was a form-fitting black bodysuit with pink pieces resembling the design of moon boots around her calves and forearms, with a similar collar at her neck, while Izuku's own was a simple pine-needle green jumpsuit with a respirator mask and a pair of protrusions atop the full hood that gave him the appearance of an overgrown rabbit. He felt just a little silly wearing it, but judging from Uraraka's blush, she felt pretty silly herself ("I just told them to work on putting pressure on my pressure points to keep the nausea down…but I didn't specify anything else…this is so tight!"). Besides, his mother had made it for him from the designs she'd seen in his hero notebooks – so how could he let her down?

No…this costume would serve as tribute to those he cared about.

"Ah, sorry, Uraraka-san. I'm just nervous."

"Yeah, me too…hopefully they won't match people without combat Quirks up against someone like that Bakugou kid," she murmured, echoing his train of thought, and he nodded mutely.

To his mixed elation and anxiety, Izuku and Uraraka were paired up; she admitted she wasn't much good with close combat, but she was more than happy to offer support any way she could. "One of the most important skills in hero work is _cooperation!_ You won't always get to be matched up with people whose Quirks match up with yours, or even whose personalities mesh well!" All Might had boomed, before assigning groups seemingly at random; Izuku wasn't sure what most of the other students' Quirks were exactly, aside from hints he'd seen here and there, such as the loud blonde (who he'd heard someone call Kaminari) shocking the grip strength tester into believing he was exerting much more force than he was and a strangely short kid he could barely believe was their own age, who'd pulled purple balls the size of grapefruits off his head and bounced off of them during the sidestep test.

To his absolute terror, they were matched against Bakugou and Iida.

 _So much for avoiding combat._

The next few minutes were a blur to Izuku; he distinctly recalled being called up to go first, and before he even realized it, he stood with Uraraka outside of the fake "hideout" where Iida and Bakugou would be preparing whatever defenses they could for the mock bomb. Shaking. Shivering. _Trembling._

"Deku-kun, are you alright?"

"I-I'm f-f-fine!" he tried to reassure her, through chattering teeth. Predictably, Uraraka was unconvinced, and she stepped closer to him, her expression sympathetic.

"You wanna talk? We've got a few minutes before we have to go in."

Izuku looked at his feet.

"Deku-kun…do you and Bakugou already know each other?"

He hadn't been expecting that question, but he supposed it hadn't taken much for her to piece it together. Bakugou and Izuku had already demonstrated prior acquaintanceship through their nicknames for the other. "…Yeah. We do. I've known him since we were little kids."

"He doesn't seem very nice."

"…Kacchan and I were best friends up until his Quirk manifested," Izuku decided to tell her, figuring that being open would be the best course of action here.

" _ **Three minutes left for the villain team to prepare!"**_ All Might's voice boomed out across the arena.

"Then what?" Uraraka's eyes, a deep hazel, met his own, round and sincere and far, far too close for Izuku's comfort.

"Mine didn't manifest until a few months before the entrance exam," he explained. "So we grew up with him having a really powerful and awesome Quirk and me being effectively Quirkless. I…I guess that got to his head. Around second grade he got it into his head to call me useless, like a wooden puppet. And that's where the name Deku came from." He finished this little speech with an equally little, self-deprecating smile, and Uraraka's brow scrunched in irritation.

"How could he do that to somebody he'd been friends with?" she exclaimed, seemingly unable to believe it. "That's not friendship at all!"

"Kacchan's just…different from you or me, Uraraka-san." He felt a surge of revulsion – _why am I defending him?_ – but didn't show it; regardless, Uraraka poked him sharply in the chest.

"Different or not, he doesn't get off doing that to you!"

" _ **Two minutes left!"**_

"Uraraka-san…I appreciate your concern on my behalf, but…it's okay." That sad little smile didn't slip or waver, and Uraraka's expression shifted from outrage to sympathy.

"Well…I already told you this, but…I like the sound of it. To me, it sounds like _dekiru_ – you can do it! Y'know?"

He supposed. He hadn't really ever heard it that way, but Uraraka's accent made the two words sound a lot closer than Bakugou's did.

"Plus, you've got a totally awesome Quirk now, even if it did take years to show up!" she went on, her agitation evaporating into excitement. "I bet you could totally blow him out of the water if you tried!"

"Once," he corrected her, bitterly. "You saw it for yourself, I can only use my Quirk once for about thirty seconds before it stops healing me and I'm totally useless."

" _ **One minute left!"**_

"But that's all we need, right?" Uraraka pressed, her smile growing. "His explosions are pretty powerful, but yours totally blew away that giant robot in the entrance exam! I bet you could overpower him with just one punch!" There she went miming punches again. Izuku grinned, a real one this time, and gave a little laugh.

"Uraraka-san…"

"Yeah, Deku-kun?"

A beat.

"…Thank you."

"I did say I'd be happy to give ya any support ya needed, right?" she responded, her own grin surpassing his own, and they shared a comfortably awkward laugh before –

" _ **Time's up for the villain team to prepare! Hero team, get in there!"**_

"You ready?" he asked her.

"Yep, yep! I'm sorry, we should've been talkin' about this during the preparation period – "

"No, it's okay, really! That was preparation too, in a way. Your Quirk can make things float, right?" he asked, surveying the front of the building.

"Um…kinda. Zero Gravity just nullifies the pull of gravity on an object…it'll stay in place if no other force is applied to it. Why?"

"I've got an idea. Can you float yourself, too?"

Uraraka blanched.

"…For about five seconds. Then I throw up."

Izuku grit his teeth. "Right. Float me first. I'm going up to the second-floor window and we can work our way up from there. I'll open it so you can just jump straight up and I can pull you through the window before you get sick."

Though her face didn't grow any less pale, she nodded, taking Izuku's hand in her own and touching his palm with all five of her finger pads; immediately, that rushing sense of weightlessness he remembered from the day of the entrance exam hit him again, and he kicked hard off the ground, catching hold of the second-floor windowsill as he ascended. With a mighty shove, he was able to force it open, pulling himself through the opening and hitting the ground with a muffled _thump_ as Uraraka evidently released her Quirk. "Now, Uraraka-san!" he called, picking himself up and leaning from the window.

The poor girl looked nauseous the moment her signature flash of pink light appeared, but with her jaw clenched, she too kicked off, catching hold of Izuku's hands for him to pull her into the building. He'd barely had time to blink before she'd pressed her fingertips together and doubled over, retching.

"Are you okay?" he asked, tentatively rubbing her back, and she nodded, though she didn't stop him. After a minute, Uraraka straightened, looking more than a little flushed.

"Thanks, Deku-kun. I'm fine now, promise!" A weak grin. "Okay, so what are we – "

" _DEKU!"_

 _I'd know that voice anywhere._

"Kacchan - !?"

He barely had time to react before Bakugou's hand slammed into the ground where Uraraka had stood not a second prior. In the nick of time, Izuku managed to dive into her, tugging her aside and covering her body with his own to take the shock from the blast, and as Bakugou straightened, so too did Izuku and Uraraka, the latter looking more than a little flustered…and also angrier than either of the boys had seen her in their two days of contact (or three, in Izuku's case).

(He had the distinct feeling that her anger had nothing to do with the attempted attack, but didn't say anything – _now isn't the time!_ )

"What do you think you're doing, huh, shitrag!? Trying to play the hero again!?" Bakugou spat, and underneath the mask over his eyes, the whites were almost red with sheer rage – if he were any more furious, he'd have broken a blood vessel.

"We're just here for the test, Kacchan!" Izuku tried reasoning with him, even though he knew it was futile. Perhaps reminding Bakugou that they were performing a school activity would tame his ire…?

Nothing of the sort happened.

" _Shut up, you shitty nerd!"_ the blonde exploded, both figuratively and literally as he thrust himself once more at the pair standing a little ways down the hall. Izuku and Uraraka darted to either side, letting the explosion blast by them, and Bakugou's head swiveled to give Izuku a terrifying, horrifying glare with a wicked, manic grin on his face.

Izuku froze.

Pivoting on his heel, Bakugou swung his palm once more towards Izuku, a hot wave of force surging out of it and striking him before he could react.

"Deku-kun!"

" _Shut UP!"_

A second blast, and the sound of Uraraka hitting the floor met Izuku's ears, snapping him to his senses.

"K-Kacchan…!" he managed to get out, his voice shaking as much as his legs as he pushed himself to his feet.

"Still standing, huh? Guess we'll just have to _change that, huh!?_ "

Izuku knew from observation that Bakugou's voice rose when he was preparing to launch an attack, and so instead of trying to dodge the blast, he kicked off the floor, darting _past_ Bakugou to shove him further down the hallway away from Izuku and the prone Uraraka.

"Are you okay, Uraraka-san?" he asked, hurried, his voice low, and she nodded quickly.

"I'm fine, Deku-kun," she assured him, and then Bakugou's scream of fury met his ears and he turned to face his assailant once more.

The sight of his new friend sprawled on the floor had flicked some kind of switch in him, and instead of fear, or terror, he felt only _anger_ – an emotion Midoriya Izuku had not much experience with. Whirling to face Bakugou as he rushed Izuku once more, the smaller boy ducked, driving his shoulder under the other's right hook, grabbing hold of his forearm, and swinging him around hard, slamming him flat on his back against the tiled flooring.

The mania faded instantly, replaced by total and utter shock, but before Bakugou could say a word, Izuku found himself yelling, his voice high and trembling.

"K-Kacchan!" he shouted. "You might bully me…and call me names…and attack me…but I – I won't let you hurt anyone else!"

"Stupid shitty _nerd –_ how the _hell_ did you even - !?"

" _Haaaaaah!_ "

A wordless scream escaped Izuku's lips as Bakugou rose, a little slower than usual, and turned to swing another explosion his way; the delay was enough for Izuku to drive a fist into his former friend's chest, staggering him back a step, but the daze from the slam was fading fast, and before ten seconds was up, Bakugou had recovered his wits enough to launch another assault, Uraraka lying completely forgotten at the corner.

" _Who told you you could get into Yuuei, huh!?"_

Izuku leapt aside, but Bakugou had been expecting this and changed trajectory mid-swing to strike him in the gut, sending him reeling and burning off the top layer of his hero costume with the heat of the blast.

" _Who said you could ever be anything more than a shitty fucking pebble in my path!?"_

With his left hand, Bakugou reached up and grabbed Izuku by the throat, forcing him up against the wall as the other could only stammer and tug at Bakugou's fingers, hot, sour breath gusting against his nostrils with each breath the other took.

" _Answer me, shitrag! Who – "_

"I told you already, Kacchan!" Izuku screamed, eyes wide not with fear but with _rage_ , and he shifted his grip down to Bakugou's wrists, squeezing as hard as he could. "Someone I look up to – someone close to me! – told me that I could be a hero! And – and that's exactly what I intend to do! I wanna be – I wanna be a hero who saves people with a smile on his face!"

His grimace twisted, turning upward, curving into a pained, but sincere, smile, showing all of his teeth, and _something_ shifted inside of him, a warmth rushing up through his whole body.

"So you can hurt me all you want, Kacchan – but when you hurt the people I care about – I'm not gonna just stand by and let it happen _ever again!_ "

And then Izuku's eyes were shining, and Bakugou's went from furious to terrified, and he released his grip on the other's throat as angry, hot burns sprang up on his forearms in the shape of Izuku's handprints –

Without missing a beat, Midoriya Izuku drove a heavy, burning fist into the other's gut, causing Bakugou Katsuki to grunt in pain and clutch his middle; instead of following up, however, Izuku just shoved his rival away and did an about-face, sprinting back towards Uraraka with all his anger used up and nothing but concern in his eyes.

"Uraraka-san! Come on! We've gotta get away, quick!"

"R-right!"

Realizing she'd been lying stunned on the floor for the entire duration of their fight, Uraraka got to her feet, accepting the hand Izuku offered her and running her hardest to keep up with him as he took long, powerful strides ahead of her, Bakugou's hoarse shouts echoing from behind them. They could hear the sound of his explosions, and the walls shook, but evidently he hadn't memorized the floor plan, as Izuku and Uraraka swiftly made their way to the stairwell, through the third floor, and up to the fourth without any further sign of him, the sounds of his unbridled rage fading away as they climbed the steps.

"Iida-kun is going to be alone," Izuku explained, as they ran; they'd slowed their pace to a jog somewhere halfway through the third floor, though Uraraka was considerably more winded than he.

"H…how do you know?" she wheezed.

"Because Kacchan was alone. Knowing him, he probably came after us by himself, figuring he could take us down without Iida's help…but I think he underestimated us!"

Maybe Izuku couldn't see it, but Uraraka Ochako certainly could. In that brief fight, something about Izuku had changed, subtly, and his apprehension had changed to something between elation and confidence. She looked down to hide the blush and smile that spread across her unwilling cheeks and lips, but the precaution was unnecessary; Izuku had started muttering again.

"If Iida's by himself, and Kacchan doesn't make it upstairs in time, we can take him out in a two-on-one! And from there, it's easy – we just have to touch the bomb, right?"

"Yeah, that's it. We should be right under the bomb room now, shouldn't we?" she asked, pulling the folded floor plan from her uniform pocket, but before Izuku could respond, the window ahead of them shattered, and none other than Bakugou Katsuki tumbled through it, his expression beyond furious.

" _Surprise, you shitty nerds!"_

"Not again!" Uraraka squeaked, but Izuku's face had quickly twisted into a fierceness to rival Bakugou's, and he immediately barked:

"Uraraka-san! Run upstairs, now! To the fifth floor! I'll contact you on the earpiece, okay?"

"B-but - !"

"Please, Uraraka-san!" There was an urgency in his voice that forbade argument, and reluctantly, she nodded, taking off at a sprint for where she knew the staircase to be. As Izuku had expected, Bakugou didn't even glance after her, his bloodshot eyes fixed entirely on _him._

" _Did you think you'd beaten me so easy, you Quirkless nerd?"_ came the scream, and Izuku prepared to flip him again – but at the last possible second, Bakugou threw one hand behind his back and used a single explosion to throw himself into the air, over Izuku's head, to strike him from behind with a second blast and throw the aspiring hero to the floor.

"N-no, I – " Izuku's voice came out in a cough, winded as he was, and Bakugou interrupted him.

" _I'm not going to let you be anything more than a pebble in my path, d'you understand me!?"_

"N-no!" he repeated, stronger this time, and as Bakugou shoved a hand forth to pin him down, Izuku rolled out of the way, onto his back, scrambling to a stand. "I won't! I won't be your stepping-stone anymore, Kacchan!"

Pain. Hurt. Ache.

His childhood friend met his eyes across a gap far wider than the few meters it spanned.

Rejection. Disappointment. _Failure._

His throat was sore from screaming.

His body was sore from the impacts and the costume his mother had made him had half burnt away, revealing the tracksuit underneath.

"Do _you_ understand _me_ , Kacchan!?"

There was a moment of brief, incredible, deafening silence before Bakugou lifted one of his arms, aiming the heavy grenade-styled bracer on his wrist directly at Izuku.

"Deku-kun, I'm at the room," Uraraka's voice came through his earpiece, quiet as a whisper. At the same moment, Izuku heard a shouting that could only be Iida come through not only Uraraka's end of his own headset, but loudly enough to filter through Bakugou's as well.

"Bakugou! What are you doing? They could be up here at any instant! I must ask that you return _immediately_!"

Izuku's opponent yanked his blue earpiece out, tossed it to the floor, and smashed it under his boot, still saying nothing as he took the same hand and hooked one finger around a small metal trigger under the bracer's safety lever.

"I had support design these bracers to store my excess sweat," he told Izuku, voice deadly quiet, and the blood running hot in Izuku's veins iced over in an instant. "And when I pull this trigger, it'll _blow your stupid nerd ass to bits!"_

" _ **Young Bakugou! Do**_ **not** _ **fire that blast! Quite aside from the danger to young Midoriya, think of the collateral damage!"**_ All Might's voice blared in Izuku's earpiece, but it was futile; Bakugou had just smashed his.

He couldn't hear their instructor telling them to stop.

"Kacchan, _no!_ "

" _Shut up!"_ – and there was genuine rage in his voice now; the manic grin was gone, replaced by pure fury, and Izuku watched almost as if in slow motion as his finger twitched and the blast came roaring from the gauntlet, the sheer force tearing up floor tile –

" _SMAAAAAASH!"_

With a scream of pain and desperation, Izuku launched a full-force One For All-empowered punch at Bakugou, the sheer wind pressure of it forcing the blasts to stop dead in midair, pushing Bakugou backwards along the hallway as the inferno raged between them, shaking the building to its foundations; but any second now, the wind pressure would stop, and Izuku had no idea if -

Almost as if reading his mind, the equilibrium the two attacks had reached shifted, and the explosions picked up speed, rocketing towards Izuku once more.

 _It's now or never!_ _You have another Quirk, use it!_

Of course it was. Here he went, relying on his clutch potential again, not training himself. He'd heal, sure, but what would it solve? What would it do for him? He'd throw himself into mortal injury, come out superpowered for thirty seconds, and be useless again.

 _I still can't control it._

 _But what else are you going to do? Just lie down and let him walk all over you?_ Time slowed to nearly a standstill for just long enough for a small voice in the back of Izuku's mind to argue with him as he stood watching orange heat bloom in the center of the torrent that jetted down the hall.

 _What kind of hero am I if I have to rely on this one ace up my sleeve to do anything!? I can't save anyone with this power…all I can do is fight long enough to take down one person!_

The voice wouldn't be cowed. _You can save someone now. Uraraka's waiting for you, right upstairs. Are you going to let her down?_

 _I – I can't –_

 _Save the nobility for later!_ _ **This is what you can do for now!**_

And then the heat consumed him for all but a fraction of a second before he felt his entire body phase in and out of being, leaving a massive pile of scorching ash on the tile underfoot; he knew his Quirk was active again, and he knew that no matter what happened, _nothing could hold him back right just then!_

 _It's true I've been relying on the same trick all this time,_ he thought, his mind on a totally separate track from his body as he closed the gap between himself and Bakugou with the speed of One For All, his body healing the damage instantaneously as he broke both legs and plowed through a seemingly endless stream of high-powered explosions.

 _It's true I'm never going to be a hero at this rate…but that's why I have to take this and learn from it!_

Instinctively, Izuku shoved both palms against Bakugou's chest in an improvised _mawashi uke_ strike that a boy with a tail and a karate _gi_ would later tell him to be proud of, shoving the blonde backwards with far more force than he'd have been capable of without the power of his Quirks; without missing a single step, he caught the staggered Bakugou by the front of his costume and slammed him against the wall in a chokehold identical to the one he'd used on Izuku not ten minutes prior.

" _I'm going to keep getting stronger!"_

He barely recognized the voice as his own.

"I'm gonna keep chasing my dream, do you hear me!? _And you're not gonna stop me anymore, Kacchan!_ "

" _Deku…"_

"I'm not the useless Deku anymore," he whispered, and though the building still quaked and Bakugou's hands still popped with periodic explosions, he knew his former friend could hear him just fine. "I'm the Deku… _who always does his best!_ "

And without giving him a chance to respond, Izuku threw Bakugou Katsuki across the hall and into the other wall, where he struggled to stand for just a moment before he dropped to the floor and didn't get back up.

Breathing hard, Izuku made his way down to the spot where, according to the floor plan, he'd be directly under the center of the room in which Uraraka would confront Iida over the bomb. "Uraraka-san?" he asked, and was relieved when she answered immediately; in the background, Iida was still shouting.

"Deku-kun?"

"H-hey. I beat Kacchan for you." _Wait. What? For her!?_

On the other end, Uraraka turned red as a tomato.

"A-ah…thanks, D-Deku-kun," she managed to stammer out, trying to keep her voice down. "What did you wanna do about Iida-kun, then? It'd be two versus one…"

"Well…I used my Quirk against Kacchan…so I'm kinda out of commission when it comes to a head-on fight besides what I can do by myself," he admitted. "But…I have one more thing we might be able to do…how much did you say you can float?"

"I don't think I told you…but about five tons, I guess. Why?"

"Wow. Okay, that's more than enough for what I'm thinking of…"

Iida Tenya was completely unprepared, then, for the shockwave that punched through the floor and knocked him off his feet, and equally unprepared for the way Uraraka, clinging to a pillar, used the force from the shockwave to keep herself in the air with the now-weightless pillar, giving it a mighty swing like a baseball bat to smack the rubble from the blast towards him.

" _Improvised Special Move: Comet Home Run!"_

A floor below, despite the screaming pain in his right arm, Izuku beamed.

Not ten seconds later, Uraraka had crossed the room, making herself weightless just long enough to touch the false bomb, "disarming" it and winning their team the trial.

* * *

Pain had a way of making time both slow to an agonizing crawl and speed up to the point where he couldn't remember anything whatsoever afterward; he knew they'd won, but any victory celebrations were put aside in favor of Izuku taking another brief stay in the nurse's office.

"You again, hmm?" Recovery Girl didn't look too pleased to see him back again the very next day.

"…Yeah, it's me again. Sorry!"

"Don't apologize. The best apology you could make would be to learn to control your Quirk better."

The rest of the school day was simply the battle trials, and then the time came to head home. Uraraka came to give him his bag ("Deku-kun, I made it weightless, you don't have to worry about me straining myself," she giggled), and they exited the ward together, heading for the front doors of Yuuei.

Iida joined them, briefly, until they came to the fork between the bus station and the train station and he had to wave them goodbye once more, leaving Izuku and Uraraka to take the train back to Shizuoka Prefecture.

After the Engine Quirk user left, a silence settled between them, and though they kept the same pace, something was… _off_ about the girl walking next to him. The way she walked, head low, staring at her feet. Her total lack of bubbliness. The way her shoes tapped in an unbroken, robotic rhythm, a far cry from the way her pace changed with her level of excitement as she talked –

 _Wait, you noticed that?_

Izuku shoved his thoughts aside and spoke instead.

"Hey, Uraraka-san."

No response. Out of instinct, he gave her a gentle tap on the shoulder and immediately recoiled the moment he realized – _I touched a girl! What did I just do!? I probably just signed my own death warrant!_

"Oh! Um, sorry, Deku-kun. I just got a little lost in thought is all. Are you alright?" She jumped at the contact, then met his gaze with a shy, sad little smile, deflecting his concerns with her own.

"I'm fine. You, um, you didn't look too happy just now."

"It's really nothing, I promise!" She rushed to ease his worry, but this had the opposite effect she'd intended; now Izuku _definitely_ knew something was up. Regardless, no matter what he said, she'd reassure him she was fine, and after a few minutes, he dropped the subject, and Uraraka went back to staring at her feet.

She was silent the entire way to Shizuoka.

By the time they reached Izuku's street, his heart had sank into his stomach and his intestines had tied themselves in knots, resulting in a distinctly unpleasant writhing, pounding terror in his chest and gut – had he done something wrong? Was she upset with him? He opened his mouth to apologize, but she beat him to the punch.

"I-I'm sorry, Deku-kun. I really haven't been feeling well since earlier. I think maybe I'm coming down with something. And on the second day of school, too!" she added, pretending to pout. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay? Take care of your arm! Even if Recovery Girl healed it, you shouldn't put too much strain on it until you're sure it's all better, okay?" she instructed him, and he had no choice but to nod.

"U-um, alright. You feel better too, okay, Uraraka-san?"

"…Yeah. I will. 'Bye!"

And with a cheery wave, she turned away from him.

Izuku watched her go.

It was almost funny how he could run headfirst into a villain attack without hesitating, but when it came to comforting a friend, his legs just wouldn't budge.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading. I do read and consider all of your comments and smile a little every time someone favourites or follows the story. You make my day better as much as I can make yours.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Q &A time.**

 **lonewolf3456** **– Noooot quite. But that'll come in a fair bit later.**

 **subjectnineteen** **– What happened to subjects one through eighteen? Regardless, I did intend this as primarily IzuOcha;** _ **what we are**_ **is the angsty jealousy romancey bit, not this one. No harem planned ;p – as for figuring out Phoenix, that remains to be seen (^: I have plans.**

 **0rbital** **– Whoa, are you caught up on the manga? If not, I'd suggest doing so.**

 **Hektols** **– Yeah, it always bothered me that Izuku would actually defend Bakugou or try to play down the shit he pulled. Kinda hoping to make Uraraka serve as a sort of mediator here and point out "oi lad that's awful don't defend that".**

 **Ahhhh** **– I have nothing special to say, your name just made me snort.**

 **I've always wondered what happens during time skips because they don't seem to progress character development in any way, shape or form. Look at** _ **Your Lie in April/Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso**_ **: despite the series skipping months at a time, Kousei and Kaori are no closer, and you know they're spending a damn lot of time together. It's like season changes are just there for atmosphere.** _ **Girl, how did you never ask him if he liked anime?**_

 **(Would recommend that one if you like crying for seven straight hours.)**

 **Back on topic, BNHA isn't so bad about the skips, but still, you know they had totally ordinary days in between dramatic events. I think this chapter was supposed to encapsulate some of that "ordinary" in a way that makes it more significant than it would appear to the characters while it's happening. We all know it's the small moments that stand out the most in retrospect.**

* * *

Uraraka didn't mention her silence the previous evening.

Izuku, for his part, couldn't remember much of anything past the punch he'd thrown to smash a hole in the building's floor; it had passed by in a blur, and he didn't quite recall anything she'd told him, only that she hadn't been feeling her best and she'd talk to him tomorrow – _today,_ he reminded himself, and took a deep breath, but it wasn't necessary. She acted like nothing had happened.

She met him where he waited at the corner of his street, on the side closest to her apartment, and they walked in relative silence to the train station, with Uraraka occasionally commenting on something like an interesting cloud or making small talk in the morning's warm halflight. Izuku couldn't find it in himself to partake, choosing instead to stare unsmiling at the pavement underfoot as they walked.

"Deku-kun?" she asked, after a time, and Izuku glanced up, meeting her eyes before turning his (undoubtedly blushing) face away.

"I-I'm fine, Uraraka-san!" he stammered out, then realized that she'd only said his name – _her pet name for me!_ squealed a small, very excited part of his brain that immediately made his blush itself blush and he rapidly devolved into an incredibly flustered mess.

Uraraka giggled.

"I thought maybe you were just sleepy," she chuckled, when the fit of giggles had worn off. "You're usually super talkative, so I was worried. But if you say so!"

He bit his lip and didn't respond for a few minutes. They took their seats to wait for the train.

"Uraraka-san," he started, then halted; how was he going to approach this? Just talking to her made him blush half the time, and they'd only known each other, really, for a couple of days – what business did he have being so concerned about her? _She probably doesn't want me to pry…_

But Midoriya Izuku couldn't _not_ be concerned about people. It was in his nature.

"Uraraka-san, what was wrong yesterday? I'm worried."

He'd managed to get it out without stumbling over every other syllable. That was a good start.

To his right, the usually-cheerful Uraraka's smile had faded entirely; she wasn't even trying to fake it anymore. "It's not important. Really, don't worry about it."

"I can tell something's bothering you," he pressed, forcing himself to look her in the face. "I…I know we aren't much more than strangers, but…you helped me relax yesterday before that fight. S-so if there's anything I c-can…can do…." He found himself losing his nerve, quickly, and ducked his head, feeling quite embarrassed. "Sorry…."

Silence, and Izuku's blood started running cold. He'd really screwed up, hadn't –

"Deku-kun."

A warm, soft hand came to rest on the back of his own, clenched white-knuckled over his knee, and he looked up, shifting from cold to hot faster than Todoroki Shouto, whose terrifying powers he'd witnessed over video during his stay in the medical wing after his own battle trial.

"It's just…I'm not used t' telling people about stuff, y'know?" She gave him a rueful little smile, and he couldn't do much more than gape soundlessly for a moment before she continued. "But – " and she glanced down at their hands, and flushed, but held on " – but I, um…gee, I forgot what I was gonna say. Silly me, huh?"

A shared nervous laugh. "Y-yeah," Izuku got out, with a half-smile, and Uraraka shifted in her seat.

"I guess you're right, but…aren't heroes supposed to help people 'cause they wanna help? Not 'cause they're expecting anything out of it…"

Silence again, but for the decidedly obnoxious call of a bird with no concept of "the moment" that it was trying so hard to ruin.

"Were you expecting anything when you helped me yesterday?" Izuku managed to say without stuttering, though he supposed it helped that he was trying very, very hard not to look at the way her hand gripped his own still.

"Well, n-no…"

"Then what makes you think you aren't a hero?" – and he smiled at her, a little _Deku_ smile, and her heart melted.

"Y-yeah…" she admitted, with a shaky laugh, and for the umpteenth time silence fell between them, only this time there was nothing uncomfortable about it. They would speak when there was something that had to be said aloud.

The train came in with a smoothness that only maglev could provide, and they boarded; Izuku had mixed feelings about the fact that she'd had to let go of his hand, but said nothing. She sat right next to him, fidgeting with the pleating of her skirt, and together they watched the world flicker by as the train rolled – _glided_ – out of the station, their bags positioned neatly in the cargo overhead.

"Deku-kun?" she murmured, after a while.

"Y-yeah, Uraraka-san?"

"…I think…I'm just a lil' scared."

"About what?" He couldn't say he'd been expecting this, but…here it was.

A small shrug of one shoulder. "I mean…my Quirk ain't really flashy or strong…sometimes I just…wonder if I'm cut out for it, y'know?"

"Cut out for what?"

"Hero work."

Izuku stared.

"B-but you got into Yuuei! And I saw you in the entrance exams, your Quirk's not weak at all! S-sure, it might not be super flashy like Kacchan's – "

A grumble. He was pretty sure she didn't like him one bit, and frankly, he couldn't blame her. _Heck, why am_ I _still clinging onto him the way I do…? But…now's not the time for that! Uraraka-san needs me…_

"Yeah, yeah, I did, but…just seeing you two fight yesterday, that s-scared me, Deku-kun." She pushed her fingertips together, gazing down at them with eyes glazed, and Izuku fought off a terrifying urge to take her hand the way she'd done his. "W-what if I gotta go up against someone with a Quirk like yours someday?"

 _You're definitely not going to find that,_ his mind muttered, and even though Izuku knew it was right, he responded anyway. "Did you know about the robots in the entrance exam beforehand?" he asked.

"Yuuei keeps its entrance exams confidential," she told him. "You didn't know?"

"I, um, I didn't think I was gonna even be able to apply," he admitted. "So I never even looked into it…"

"Huh? Whaddaya mean?" Her Kansai accent was really starting to slip through, but something about it was…charming? Izuku tried not to think about it.

"Um, nevermind. So you didn't know…so you came up with that strategy on the spot?"

"What strategy?"

"S-sorry! I'm not being clear enough…um, where you'd float the robots and send them crashing back down? That one, right?"

"I mean, I didn't really have a choice otherwise…"

"But…you did it!" he pointed out. "You came up with that pretty much on the spot and got into Yuuei…that's not something someone gave you, or pure luck.

"it was all you, Uraraka-san."

Trees flashed by now, warm mid-spring greenery erupting from buds and the scattered light pink of cherry blossoms filtering sunlight into a dappled glow that rippled across the otherwise dim train interior. Across from them, an oddly familiar man yawned and produced a biscuit from his ear; at the other end of the compartment, a woman sipped from a thermos of coffee, the aroma wafting down to where the two students sat.

Uraraka took a deep breath, letting the scent fill her nostrils, then exhaled slowly through parted lips, eyes closed; when she'd finished, she opened them and gazed at Izuku for a moment, expression warm but otherwise unreadable.

He gulped. Had he done something wrong?

"…Thanks, Deku-kun," she whispered, and there was a wetness in the corner of her eyes that neither of them addressed. "Really. Thank you."

God, his heart. "I guess even heroes need a hero sometimes, huh?" _Oh, no, why did I say that!?_ Blush, blush. He was starting to think his Quirk was actually just blushing uncontrollably at the worst times.

"…Y-yeah." A sigh, then a sniffle. "Speaking of which…you were pretty amazing yesterday, you know. I got to see your second fight with Bakugou after we finished. You really handed it to him back there, huh?" she laughed, and the light had come back into it.

"I, um, I don't really remember much of the fight itself," he admitted, shuffling his feet in place. "I was pretty mad, though…"

"There wasn't any sound, so we couldn't hear what either of you were saying. All Might could hear you, but he didn't say a word, even when Iida-kun asked him what was going on, so I figured it must have been between you two."

"I guess," he sighed, staring at his too-casual red high-tops. "I'm just glad it's over with."

"Me too. I'm glad you're okay, Deku-kun."

They went the rest of the trip in comfortable silence, and when they reached their classroom, she grasped his hand again for just a moment, meeting his bewildered, flustered stare with a radiant smile that left him weak in the knees for the entirety of their first period.

When Aizawa reentered the room for their hero training period later that same day, he looked over them all with lazy, half-lidded eyes (as per usual), and announced that he'd be taking each of them aside individually, then as a team to assess their performance in the previous day's battle trials.

This meant, much to their collective surprise, they'd have roughly an hour free period, and although Aizawa explicitly declared that he expected them to review their hero theory notes in preparation for tomorrow's quiz, he hadn't said they had to do it alone…so, naturally, the class split into extraordinarily loud groups.

Except for Bakugou. Bakugou Katsuki sulked by himself in the corner until Aizawa called him a few minutes later, right after "Ashido Mina".

When Izuku and Uraraka were called up, she met him in the middle of the room (they were seated on either side, with Izuku by the windows and Uraraka by the door) with a nervous little smile on her face and her eyes bright.

"I mean, how badly can it go? We won, so there's not a whole lot to say…"

"Your strategy was irrational and, had it been used in a real-life situation, would have caused an extreme amount of collateral damage."

Aizawa's lazy drawl proved Uraraka wrong the second they entered the office at the back of the classroom.

"Furthermore, if the building had not been comprised largely of foam construction materials, Midoriya's attack would have put her in extreme danger from both debris impact and a potential building collapse, not to mention the potential of setting off the bomb had it been real. All in all, while your teamwork was coordinated, your strategy was dangerous and ill-informed."

The two students stared, blankly, at their teacher, who met their gazes with his own half-lidded torpor.

"That said, certain other teachers – " and from the way Aizawa lingered on this, Izuku had a pretty good guess as to who at least one of those _other teachers_ was – "believe that, between it being so early in your education" – _it was literally the second day at Yuuei!_ Izuku screamed in his head – "and the…unconventional…nature of your plan, you should be given credit for it. As such, I won't be failing you today, but I expect you to improve your strategic thinking skills before our next activities. Understand?"

"Yes, s-sensei," both Izuku and Uraraka stammered, and he could see she was gripping her skirt far too tightly. "But," Izuku added, "it was my idea to begin with. Why take points off from Uraraka-san?"

"She agreed to it." Aizawa didn't elaborate, and Izuku couldn't think of a response. "As for your individual reports…Uraraka, you made effective use of your Quirk, but I have nothing to evaluate your other physical performance on. Try not to rely too heavily on your partner. And Midoriya…"

The lanky man's half-glare lingered unpleasantly for a moment before he sighed, closing his eyes; when he opened them, his expression was more relaxed, though he still looked far from happy. "Actually. Uraraka, you're dismissed. I would like to speak to Midoriya in private."

"U-um, okay. Um, see ya, Deku-kun." She tried to smile for him, but concern had etched itself into every line of her face, and when the door closed behind her, Aizawa didn't so much as glance up.

"Midoriya, your Quirk is called Phoenix, correct?"

"Ah, y-yes, sensei."

"I can see why. I observed its effects at the entrance exam, and again during the apprehension tests. But – " and Izuku had a feeling he knew where this was going " – there seems to be some sort of recharge time between its activations, correct?"

"Um…y-yes, sensei" was all Izuku could say to this.

"Furthermore, its effects don't seem to be limited to you taking grave injuries, seeing as three times now you've displayed exceptional power without taking damage beforehand – namely, the punch in the entrance exam, your throw two days ago, and that attack yesterday. However, all three of these attacks left you badly injured – I myself didn't notice during the entrance exam, due to your Quirk activating immediately upon impact, but according to the medical record of your Quirk, it instantly replaces damaged body parts, leaving behind a pile of ash. And guess what was left under you when we went to clean up the practical exam site?"

 _Just who is he…? Why does he have the clearance to access my records…?_

"As for the latter two instances, you'd already regenerated once, and as a result, your limbs stayed broken. Which brings me to my main point."

Izuku gulped.

"You have quite a lot of power, Midoriya, but it seems you get one attack and around thirty seconds of power before any further attacks cause you physical harm to the point of incapacitation. Either train your Quirk and learn to use its power in increments small enough to not harm you – or get out."

Silence. Then –

"Y-yes, sensei."

"That's all I have to say. You're dismissed. Send Aoyama in here."

As it turned out, Uraraka had been waiting by the door; she hadn't heard anything that Aizawa had said, but Izuku supposed it was written on his face, and after he'd called Aoyama over (Aoyama, or the blonde who'd vaporized Izuku's first potential target in the entrance exam…but who'd unwittingly, through his cocky attitude, spared the arena and its examinees the damage of Izuku activating One For All and Phoenix simultaneously; even so, Izuku took the intent for the action), she fixed him with those wide hazel pools of concern. "What's wrong, Deku-kun?"

"It's nothing, Uraraka-san," he reassured her, trying to fight off the unpleasant twisting of his guts with a smile, but it seemed they could see right through one another; she clearly didn't believe him.

"Deku-kun – "

"Let's sit down, okay?"

"…'kay."

Other students had moved to sit with their new friends already, and Izuku figured it couldn't hurt for Uraraka to move as well; he'd have offered to sit by her seat, but a pink-skinned girl with a shock of pale hair (who, he recalled, had stood when "Ashido Mina" was called) had been shooting sly grins at the pair of them, and he didn't want to know why.

"I guess it's just…my Quirk's still a little too strong for me to control," he shrugged. _I'll have to talk to All Might about this next time I see him…_ "Aizawa-sensei told me something I already knew. You've seen what happens when I use it, right?"

"Besides all the fire?"

"Well…you've seen how beat-up I get when I just throw a punch. That's what he wanted to talk about. Just told me I had to learn to control it." He didn't tell Uraraka the rest – that Aizawa had threatened him with what Izuku could only assume was expulsion, and that their teacher had pinpointed something that Izuku was already insecure about…

"Oh! Well, that's not so bad. I thought he was gonna say you failed or something." Uraraka smiled at him, and he chuckled.

"What about you, Uraraka-san?"

"You heard what he told me, though."

"Yeah, but…are you okay? I'm thinking about what you told me this morning."

"I'm fine, Deku-kun. As long as I've got you by my side, right?" she teased, and then both of them had transformed into plum tomatoes once more.

"U-Uraraka-san!" he stammered, then stopped entirely, not knowing how to continue, but before she could say anything –

 _Boom._

"Will you shitty nerds cut it the fuck out? You're makin' me sick back here," came Bakugou's snarl, and both of them jumped –

"Hey! Being a dick ain't very manly of you!" Spiky red hair, loud voice.

"Maybe he's just sore about losing, _kero._ " Hunched over, tongue lolling from between closed lips, wide eyes, hands held at an odd angle from her body.

"Wow, we've known him for two whole days and we already know he's got the personality of steamed dogshit." That blonde kid again.

" _Kaminari!"_ …And there was Iida.

"What!? It's true!"

" _There is no need to use such vulgar language in – "_

"I'm sorry about him," sighed a girl whose earlobes extended, for whatever reason, into eighth-inch audio jacks. "Don't pay him any attention."

In the context of a classroom, Bakugou could only scowl at the small group who'd risen as one and made their way to Izuku's desk; with a huff, he stomped towards the door, taking the bathroom pass from the wall before shoving the colossal entryway open and slamming it closed.

"You two okay?"

"U-um, yeah," Izuku responded, a little stunned. If he was honest, he _wasn't_ okay, but for a good reason – he'd never had anyone stand up for him like that before, especially to Bakugou, and he was feeling more than a little emotional. _don't cry don't cry don't cry don't_ –

And then he felt his eyes water.

Uraraka saved him then, nodding enthusiastically. "Oh! Yeah, we're great! Thanks for that, though, he's pretty rude, huh?" A radiant smile, like there'd never been anything else on her face.

The redhead bought it, grinning back with a sort of fierce joy that reminded Izuku strongly of Bakugou, but if Bakugou had been a genuinely nice person; both the explosive blonde and this boy were full of life, but one glance told Izuku that they expressed it _very_ differently. "Oh, awesome. Yeah, I don't really get what his deal is, but hey, it's whatever, right? I'm Kirishima Eijirou, by the way."

"O-oh, um, Midoriya Izuku."

"Uraraka Ochako! Pleased to meetcha!"

"Oh! Oh! It's the class couple! I'm Ashido Mina! But I prefer Mina, Ashido sounds blehhh." The pink-skinned girl Izuku had been _very deliberately_ avoiding stuck her head in just then, grinning like a fox.

"U-um, we're not – "

"We're not a couple!"

Mina just giggled. "Sure you aren't. Don't worry, I got my eye on you!" A wink, and both Uraraka and Izuku were left feeling uncomfortable in a way that was neither pleasant nor unpleasant.

"And I'm Asui Tsuyu," croaked the hunched-over girl, from Kirishima's right side. "Call me Tsu, _kero._ "

"Um, sure, but…why do you keep saying _kero_?" Uraraka asked, bluntly, and the other girl smiled.

"My Quirk is called Frog, _kero._ That speaks for itself."

A giggle from the brunette sitting across from Izuku. "Well, that clears things up. It's good meeting you guys!"

"Oh! Y-yeah, me too!" Izuku blurted out, suddenly realizing his silence might be considered rude, but Kirishima just laughed.

"Are we doing introductions?" Another girl, this one with a spiky black ponytail, spoke up from her seat, her composure impeccable and unwavering. "I'm Yaoyorozu Momo."

"Kaminari Denki!" The blonde who Izuku had been rather unceremoniously referring to as _the blonde,_ grinning from ear to ear.

"Jirou Kyouka." The girl with the audio jacks hanging off her ears. She didn't sound too enthused.

"Ojirou Mashirao." A clean-cut boy with a powerful tail protruding from the seat of his pants.

"Sero Hanta!" A wide, toothy grin, earnest eyes, and strangely wide elbows.

"Hagakure Tooru!" A floating uniform.

"Satou Rikida. And this is Kouda Koji." A heavyset guy with particularly thick lips introduced both himself and a boy with a head like a rock had mated with a lobster, who nodded mutely with a nervous smile.

"Tokoyami Fumikage." The boy with the bird head, who still sat at his desk, leaning back with his feet upon the surface and his ankles crossed.

"Aoyama Yuga!" The blonde burst from Aizawa's office with a dramatic flip of the hair, sparkles flying every which way, and the entire class stared blankly at him before Aizawa shouted "Mineta Minoru!" from behind him and an _extremely_ small boy who Izuku had mistaken for a sit-in from a few years below them rose, bowed, introduced himself (needlessly) with "Mineta Minoru, resident ladies' man!" and scurried into the office, barely reaching the doorknob to pull it to.

"Okay, yeah, I think that's everyone. Iida-san already introduced himself, and we all know Bakugou already." Kirishima, still grinning, took a light bow and stepped back. Mina piped up to fill the gap.

"Oh, oh! You over there!"

All eyes turned to Todoroki Shouto, who hadn't introduced himself yet, but whose name Izuku knew from the recap footage he'd been shown while recovering.

"What's your name?" Mina's eyes practically _glowed_ with excitement; it was both cute and terrifying at the same time, and Izuku had a feeling that Ashido Mina was going to give him that impression until the end of time.

"…Todoroki," came the response, after a moment, and he looked down at his notes again, red hair falling down to hide the burn scar on the left of his face.

"Well that's awful mean!" the pink-skinned girl pouted, but she moved on nonetheless. "So! I guess we all saw each other's Quirks yesterday, yeah?"

"We did. I found it enlightening." Yaoyorozu, then, with her perfect posture, still holding her notes in one hand. "You two, did Aizawa-sensei pass on my advice?" she added, to Izuku and Uraraka, and the pair frowned, utterly confused.

"Um, what advice?" Uraraka asked, putting a finger to her chin.

"Ah, well, Iida-kun was the only one to actually fulfill the requirements of the exercise. You both have some pretty strong Quirks, but Midoriya caused far too much damage, and – "

"Y-yeah, we heard, sorry about that," Izuku cut in, stammering over his own apology, and the hint of a smile danced across the other's lips.

"Don't apologize to _me,_ apologize to the building. Him, on the other hand…" and she jerked a thumb over her shoulder, towards Todoroki.

"He froze the entire building solid." Shouji Mezou, whose actual mouth was covered by a bandana, spoke through a second mouth that had formed on the tip of one of his arms.

"So cold and aloof!" Mina marveled, totally forgetting her earlier assessment of Todoroki's character. "Ooh, the class bad boy! I can _feel_ it!"

"Mina, calm down," Kirishima chuckled, scratching the back of his shock of spiky red hair. "Maybe he's a social butterfly who's still in the cocoon!"

"What does that make Bakugou, then?" Kaminari interjected, grinning, and a few people snorted.

"I'd just leave them both be. They'll come to us when they're ready," Ojirou shrugged; Izuku immediately got the impression that he was the level-headed one of the group. "Pressuring someone who's avoiding socializing is just going to make them want to do it even less."

"Aww, but it's no fun just letting them sulk on their own!"

"It's even more annoying to have someone constantly buzzing after you pretending they care," Jirou cut in.

"I'm not _pretending,_ I just – "

"Mina-chan, you did just say that you were doing it for fun," Tsuyu pointed out.

"Okay, but I – "

"It's getting very loud out here. Far louder than would be rational for students studying their hero notes." Aizawa's lazy drawl cut through the class, and they swiveled as one to stare wide-eyed at him like so many deer in the headlights of his usual half-lidded gaze.

One blink, and he called over Ojirou, who waved himself off with a half-smile.

In the end, they decided to let Todoroki and Bakugou alone, and the rest of the day passed entirely without event, barring a spectacular incident in which Mineta, desperate to impress, attempted to demonstrate his Quirk and bounced himself squarely through the open window into the tree that stood tall outside their classroom, a position from which he was duly rescued by one of Shouji's arms. It did, however, leave one of his ("What do we call it? Is it a hairball?" Sero had asked the question nobody else had been particularly keen on addressing) – his…hairballs on the classroom floor.

When Aizawa stepped back into the room, he caught sight of it immediately, stuck as it was (with Tokoyami's Quirk, Dark Shadow, stuck to it from where the spectral entity had tried to pick it up, and Tokoyami himself sitting embarrassed at his desk a few feet away), and stared at it for a solid thirty seconds before he whipped his head up to glare at Mineta; his shoulder-length hair rose up, exposing a pair of glowing red irises, and within a second, the purple ball on the floor shriveled and withered to nothing, freeing a grateful Dark Shadow.

Aizawa's hair dropped, accompanied by his trademark tired sigh, but in the second it had been up, Izuku realized immediately just who their teacher actually was.

"Aizawa-sensei is the pro hero Eraserhead!" he practically squealed, as quietly as he could, and Uraraka fixed him with a look that was torn between confusion and fond amusement.

"Who?" Kaminari muttered, from the corner of his mouth.

"I think I've heard of him," Ojirou put in, from Kaminari's right. "He doesn't like the spotlight too much. Says it interferes with his hero work."

"When you've all finished talking about me, I have one last announcement before you're dismissed for the day."

The twenty of them, as one, glanced up to see their teacher holding what was unmistakably –

"A ballot box!?" Iida spluttered, and Aizawa nodded his head.

"You'll be voting for class president tomorrow morning. Come prepared. You're dismissed."

And with that, Aizawa Shouta stepped back into his sleeping bag, pulled it up around himself, and rolled out of the room as the bell rang.

* * *

"Deku-kun, are you nervous for tomorrow?"

"No, not at all. Are you? It's not like this is going to be a permanent decision…and who would vote for me, anyway?" he added, with a little chuckle.

"W-well, I – " Uraraka started, in spite of her growing blush, but the man with the biscuit-ear Quirk sneezed, ejecting a biscuit from his right ear at high velocity; it struck the woman down the row from him squarely in the nose, and, startled, she jumped, releasing a high volume of steam from her mouth as she yelped, which prompted the man to Izuku's left to start spinning his hands on the end of his arms like they were fan blades, but he accidentally hit the man to _his_ left, and –

To say the least, the chain reaction completely derailed their discussion, though thankfully not the train itself. By the time they'd disembarked, each holding a complimentary biscuit courtesy of the incredibly embarrassed Biscuit Ears (an unfortunate nickname from primary school he'd never managed to shake), they were both out of breath and apple-cheeked from giggling, and it was in high spirits that Izuku actually escorted Uraraka back to the front steps of her apartment, where they stood awkwardly for a moment, neither wanting to leave the other alone.

"D-Deku-kun? Um, if…if you need it…" Her cheerful confidence evaporated in an instant.

"H-huh, Uraraka-san?"

"H-here…give me your ph-phone."

"Um, okay, but…why?" he asked, slipping the sleek black device from his pocket and offering it to her; blushing fiercely, she typed in her phone number, pushing it back towards him without quite meeting his eyes. "O-oh…Uraraka-san, I – "

"No, it's okay! Really!" she pleaded. "Here, um, text me? So I have yours, too…?"

He did. Her phone buzzed. They both flushed.

"C-cool," she stammered out, managing a smile, and he returned it, though his stomach had commenced some sort of somersaulting ritual, its end goal unknown. "See you tomorrow?"

"Y-yeah! Of course! I wouldn't wanna miss the elections, would you?" He didn't quite have it in him to question her decision to give him her number – what if he asked and she changed her mind and asked him to delete it? Even if he didn't plan on using it…well, he had it, right? That counted for something!

"N-no, I wouldn't!"

"Um…well…see you, then!"

"Oh! 'Bye!"

Reluctantly, they both turned away, Uraraka pushing through the glass front door and ascending the steps to her apartment, Izuku strolling off back the way he'd come, staring at his (blank) phone – _she'd given him her number! A real, live girl had given him her number!_

As he thought this, Uraraka Ochako unlocked her door, stepped inside, slipped off her shoes and blazer, and flopped facedown on her bed.

Smiling like a _gosh-darn idiot_ into her pillow.


	6. Chapter 6

The vote was tied at 2-2 for Yaoyorozu Momo and Iida Tenya.

Izuku, of course, had voted for Iida; the Engine Quirk user's overwhelming air of authority and unfailing devotion to responsibility were, to Izuku, enough to qualify him for the position of class president.

Everyone else had, presumably, voted for themselves, except for Uraraka and Todoroki, each of whom had a fat zero next to their names on the blackboard. It appeared as if Uraraka and Todoroki had each cast a vote for one of the two who now stood at the front of the room, but Izuku had given his vote to Iida, and he still had two…so assuming Iida had voted for himself (he had, after all, declared his willingness to lead the class, as had Yaoyorozu), where had Uraraka's vote gone…? Unless there was some convoluted mess where they'd all passed around their votes, which Izuku was disinclined to believe, then _she had to have voted for_ –

Before the steam could start whistling from his ears, Aizawa cut in, a smirk on his face.

"Since it seems that we can't settle on a winner due to some _decidedly skewed_ voting," he drawled, "then it's only rational that the two currently vying for the top spot should have some sort of competition to determine which of them is eligible to become the president of class 1-A."

Iida and Yaoyorozu straightened – or, rather, Yaoyorozu did. Izuku was half-convinced Iida had nailed a piece of rebar to his spine to keep him perfectly upright at all times.

"Now that I have your attention, what'll it be? Perhaps you two could debate your class policies – "

"Aizawa-sensei, that wouldn't be reasonable, we're four days into Yuuei and we don't actually understand anything about it yet aside from what we've been taught," Ojirou pointed out; the others had more or less agreed to let the level-headed martial artist be their spokesperson. "Assuming that this is a temporary position for each party, wouldn't there be a better way to determine who should win? And besides that, both of you should remember that you share responsibilities regardless of who wins, but the title of president supersedes that of vice president. You're pretty much fighting for power over each other and not much else."

Aizawa nodded, and Izuku could have sworn he looked just the slightest bit impressed. "Alright, we'll do it this way, then: we're heading down to the fields for a sparring match. Whoever wins becomes class president."

"Isn't that a little barbaric?" Yaoyorozu asked, her face falling; Iida's eyes stayed hidden behind the glare on his glasses.

"Barbaric? Not at all. It's the rational thing to do. Being able to maintain the strong will to do what you feel is right even in the face of opposition from your allies is an important quality of being a hero. Perhaps your endeavors won't always work out – " Todoroki stiffened at this " – but remember that you're yourself first and foremost. Being a hero may be about saving others, but when working with other pro heroes, it may be necessary to at times stand against a plan that you find dangerous or disagreeable, or to push an approach you deem more rational than the current one."

 _Both Iida and Yaoyorozu have significantly powerful Quirks,_ Izuku mused, on their way down to the field; only Yaoyorozu and Iida would be getting changed into their gym uniforms, so he'd brought his notebook with him, the one Bakugou had tossed into the koi pond at their old junior high a year ago on the day he'd met All Might for the first time. _But from reviewing the battle trial footage, Yaoyorozu's disadvantage is that she needs time to create objects…if she plays smart, she'll most likely make something to fend off Iida's initial attack while working on a larger object or contraption...so Iida's going to have to strike fast and hard to keep her disrupted and defeat her! Depending on the rules, too, Iida might have an advantage…Yaoyorozu displayed some impressive bojutsu during her fight, and she might be able to block his hits, but the sheer force of impact might be enough to send her staggering back…to counteract this, she might create something to help either redistribute or push back against the shock, but –_

"Deku-kun, you're muttering." Uraraka, smiling a little, poked his cheek, and he jumped.

"A-ah, sorry, Uraraka-san."

"It's not me you should be apologizin' to, you're spookin' the others," she giggled. Sure enough, the members of 1-A in immediate proximity to Izuku were all watching him with looks of mixed confusion, fear, and amusement on their faces; after a moment in which he was fairly certain the steam from earlier actually managed to escape, Kaminari shot him a thumbs-up and a grin.

"Hey, man, it's all good. I'm pretty nervous too! Hope I don't go full idiot again, right?" In his own strange way, Izuku realized, Kaminari was trying to help him out, and he returned the smile, grateful and warm.

When they'd seated themselves haphazardly across the grass, waiting for Iida and Yaoyorozu to make their entrances, Aizawa spoke.

"I shouldn't have to say this, but I trust that none of you will interfere in any way. This includes advice. Understand?"

"Yes, Aizawa-sensei," came the response, as one.

"Right. Iida! Yaoyorozu! Make your way out onto the sparring field."

Neither of the contestants looked particularly happy to be singled out, but they shook hands nonetheless, locking their jaws and elbows before turning on their heels and taking ten paces apart each in a scene reminiscent of an Old West duel, only with Japanese teenagers in tracksuits instead of bearded, gun-slinging Americans in sand-worn leather vests.

"I don't think the rules are very difficult. Immobilize your opponent, force them to submit, or knock them out of the ring. Understand?"

"Yes, Aizawa-sensei."

"Three."

Iida bent his front knee.

"Two."

Yaoyorozu lifted her shirt, and her forearm began to glow.

"One."

Iida's engines fired up.

"Go."

In a blur, Yaoyorozu whipped from her forearm a shortstaff, whirling and ducking into Iida's high-speed kick and throwing him off balance by thrusting the bar under his outstretched leg. Izuku caught a glimpse of wide eyes under his glasses before he flipped midair and crashed to the ground, Yaoyorozu ducking out of the way. For a moment, it seemed she'd won, but Iida wouldn't go down so easily; pushing forward with his hands, he threw himself back to his feet and went in for a sweeping low kick this time, just as Yaoyorozu pulled a shield from her exposed midriff. She stepped back into a lean, seeking to reverse the sweep, but Iida planted his foot hard on the turf behind hers, crossing their calves, and used this to send his other leg up at her head, pirouetting like a ballerina. She had barely a second to react, bringing the shield up to cover the blow, but the force of it still sent her sprawling sideways.

 _Iida Tenya. Relies heavily on speed and opening attacks to disorient the opponent and keep up a chain of hits. High impact force from kicks due to Quirk._

Izuku scrawled this in his notebook. Uraraka, reading over his shoulder, scooted a little closer to study the notes he'd already taken, glancing up and down between the paper and the match just like the mop of green hair next to her.

 _Yaoyorozu Momo. Relies on stalling the battle at first until she can produce larger objects from her body to turn the tides. Quick reflexes but relies on hand-to-hand combat with traditional martial arts weapons; despite skill, possibly ineffective against a combat-oriented Quirk or extreme force._

Clang. Yaoyorozu scored a direct hit with her shield on Iida's exposed calf as he launched another kick, disorienting him, then followed up with a whip of her shortstaff across his chest, shoving him backwards.

"Still, the impact from Iida's kicks has driven them backwards toward the edge of the ring they're in," Izuku muttered, pen shaking but not actually writing. "Even with the hits he's taking, he can still push her right out of the ring…unless…"

An image of the way he'd flipped Bakugou two days prior slipped into his head just as Yaoyorozu performed a very similar move, bracing her shield with her shortstaff, kicking one leg forward and leaning back to shove Iida up and over herself, tossing him out of the ring he'd brought her so perilously close to the edge of.

"And your winner is Yaoyorozu Momo." Aizawa's drawl, as usual, held absolutely no indication of surprise, joy, excitement, or any positive emotion whatsoever; it did, on the other hand, do an excellent job of displaying apathetic indifference. "That leaves Iida Tenya the vice-president of Class 1-A."

A smattering of applause greeted the end of this, and both Iida and Yaoyorozu bowed, first to one another, then to the class before turning away and marching towards their respective locker rooms.

"Didn't see that one coming," muttered Kirishima

Izuku had seen it a mile off, and from the look on Uraraka's face, she'd thought the exact same as he.

* * *

Neither Iida nor Yaoyorozu had actually been assigned any duties by the dismissal bell on Friday, but they _had_ been interacting more, and they seemed to have developed a mutual respect for the other. They, along with Mina, Kirishima, and Kaminari, all stuck around after class, leaving Izuku and Uraraka to make their trip home alone.

 _My first week at Yuuei is over already…I'm still no closer to controlling One For All, and I still have no idea what to do about Phoenix. How do I train a Quirk that requires me to break my bones!?_

"Deku-kun? You look pale."

"I-I'm fine, Uraraka-san," he reassured her, shaking himself.

"…If ya say so. Come on, we're gonna miss the train!" Before he could react, Uraraka had taken his hand and the pavement at a run, pulling him along with her; blushing fiercely, he stumbled and staggered, trying to regain his footing as the two scrambled along, causing one hell of a scene, but Uraraka was laughing, and blushing, and _god she's adorable_ ; and Izuku was laughing, and blushing, and _god he's adorable_ (so said a little voice in her head she tried to ignore); and they were both a stupid, silly, brilliant, carefree mess the likes of which only high school could produce – that golden era between childhood and adulthood, where the weight of the world hasn't quite fallen on one's shoulders, but they're ready to take it on nonetheless.

By the time they'd gotten to the train station, both were out of breath and panting, a laugh slipping through every now and then until they'd calmed down and could look at one another without collapsing into giggles. Inwardly, Izuku marveled; he'd never clicked so naturally with a person before, though perhaps part of that may have been because he'd had Bakugou breathing down his neck his entire life, whereas here, at Yuuei, with a Quirk and classmates that could see Bakugou for _who_ he was and not _what_ – well, perhaps that had an influence.

Regardless, he wasn't about to take his new friendship for granted.

"Whew! I had fun with that." Uraraka yawned, stretching, and Izuku mirrored her, only to endure a swift poke to the ribs at the apex of his stretch.

"Uraraka-san! That's mean!" he protested, poking her right back, and she giggled, ducking away from him – pointlessly, considering they were seated right next to one another. Across from them, Biscuit Ears snorted, but the look in his eyes was good-natured.

He didn't think much of their trip home; he walked her to her apartment again, for the third day in a row (Wednesday, the day they'd met with Aizawa; Thursday, the day of the vote; today, Friday, just another day), and for the third day in a row, they lingered awkwardly outside her door for a moment before one of them had to force themselves away with a very unhappy goodbye.

Stretching, Izuku felt his muscles relax. He was certainly ready for the weekend; his first week at Yuuei had been riveting, exhilarating, exciting, terrifying, painful, and utterly exhausting, and he was more than prepared to spend his Saturday snoozing away.

Except that night his phone buzzed and totally snapped him out of his doze.

 _hey Deku-kun! c: would you wanna head to the mall tomorrow afternoon? just hangin' out! i hear there's this new noodle shop, its supposed to be amazing!_

In spite of himself, Izuku let a grin cross his face, and after performing a sort of ceremonial dance around his room for – luck? rain? he didn't know – he managed to type out a reply without shaking hard enough to drop the phone:

 _Hey, Uraraka-san! Yeah, sure, I can come! Just gotta let Mom know I'm heading out, but I think she'll be okay to let me go. Just let me know what time and I'll see you then!_

He was surprised he managed to get to sleep after that one.

* * *

The next morning, then, two things became apparent:

One, his rain dance had worked. It was pouring.

Two, his mother was _more_ than okay to let him go – she was _overjoyed._ Midoriya Inko was absolutely over the moon to see that her son had a friend – _a friend!_ – and that he was heading out to do things with them on a weekend!

"What did you say his name was, Izuku?"

"Ah, her name's Uraraka Ochako."

 _Her…?_

 _Her!?_

"ohmigoshmybabyboyisoutona _date_ ohiabsolutelyhavetomeetherimsureshe'swonderfulbut _izukudon'tyoudarebringhomeanyonewhoisn'tworthyoudoyouunderstandme?_ butohmigoshthisisincredibleohhhizukuihopeyouhavefun!"

Stunned, it took Izuku a moment to sort through his mother's babbling.

"M-Mom! It's not a date!" he spluttered, cheeks on fire.

"Sure it isn't." The knowing wink she gave him _did not help matters._

Trying his utmost to tune out his mother's nonstop chatter, though with a smile on his lips, Izuku showered and dressed, unsure what to wear – _well, we're just hanging out, so I'll dress casual. Not like it's a date or anything…_

The thought made him shiver.

In the end he settled on his usual chunky red high-tops over jeans and a t-shirt, accentuated by a white umbrella with an image of All Might emblazoned on each fold (they really did merchandize _everything_ , didn't they?).

He met Uraraka, with her own pink umbrella – a subtle sort of pink, like her hero costume, and not a tacky hot pink – and jean shorts with a white baby tee that, he hated to admit, accentuated her figure rather nicely, and he found himself trying very hard not to look at any part of her but her beaming face.

"Deku-kun, we match! Um, except for the umbrella." _Oh, god, even her shoes are red! What am I gonna do!?_

"U-uhm, yeah, we do. That's p-pretty funny, huh?" He was _mumbling._ Oh, no.

"Oh! Are you sick?" Uraraka fretted, completely misinterpreting his red face.

"N-no! I'm just, I, um…I've…never been out with a friend b-before."

"What!?" Eyes wide, lips parted, cheeks red.

 _I shouldn't have said anything at all._ "U-uh, don't worry about it. Really!" he tried to reassure her, but the look on her face was anything but reassured, and she grabbed his wrist when he tried to lead her into the mall.

"Deku-kun…"

"Uraraka-san…?"

Silence, but for the patter of rain on their umbrellas. Then –

"…Bakugou wasn't the only one bullyin' you, was he?"

She didn't meet his eyes, gazing past his knees at the rain-slicked sidewalk. Chewing her lip.

"You won't believe me if I tell you no, will you?"

"No."

With a sigh, he attempted to gesture to the doors, but realized she still had a hold on his hand, and he gave up entirely, deciding to tell her right there in the rain.

"I mean, they were just following Kacchan – "

"That doesn't make it okay!"

Even though he knew that she shouted out of concern, out of care, he still flinched, and her tone softened.

"Deku-kun…my dad always told me that someone's actions are their own…and that you make a choice every time you do anything! So, even if they were just following him…that was their choice!"

"W-well, not all of them, he scared a lot of them – "

"But none of them even tried to stand up to him, did they?"

"…N-no, but – "

 _Thump._

It took him all of ten seconds to register that Uraraka had thrown herself at him in a hug, her cheek against his chest, her arms around his back.

"Uraraka-san!?" he yelped, swallowing a scream, and she just squeezed him tighter.

"I'm sorry, Deku-kun."

"F-for what!?"

She didn't answer, choosing instead to pull away from him with her arms still around his back and look him in the face. "Just…you've got friends now, yeah? Me, at least, and Iida-kun! And everyone in our class seems really nice, and they all seem to like you! We're all goin' for the same thing, and I think we can all be really good friends!"

 _She sounds almost…desperate._

"I-it's okay, Uraraka-san. Really." He managed to smile, and she returned it, barely, extricating herself from him and standing awkwardly a couple of feet away, the rain pounding away at the world around them. A passing group of middle-schoolers wolf-whistled, and she flushed, but didn't say anything; Izuku, sensing a need for action, beckoned her inside. "Come on. We're gonna get wet if we stay out here any more. Didn't you say you wanted to visit a noodle shop?"

Instantly, her expression did a complete turnabout, and she was all smiles and bright eyes. "Oh! Yeah! Deku-kun, you _gotta_ try it with me! I hear they make the best ramen dishes in the prefecture! Maybe even in eastern Japan! Come on!"

Quite suddenly, _he_ was the one following _her_ , and it took all he had to not sprint after her at the pace she was setting for him.

Even so, he found himself smiling a little.

* * *

Everything came crashing down, quite literally, not two hours later.

Nobody could explain afterward what had caused the building's structural support, aged a mere five years, to crumble and disintegrate the way it had, but they _could_ explain its effects: the east wing of the mall collapsed, the origin right over the new noodle shop.

Izuku's first instinct, upon feeling the tremors, had been to shield Uraraka, and she'd nearly choked on her noodles in surprise, the expression of bliss on her face evaporating in an instant as he dove across their two-person table to pull her under the counter just in time to avoid a chunk of drywall that clunked against her chair with a dull _thud._

"Deku-kun? What - !?"

"We have to get out of here!" he shouted, head swinging side to side, pulse racing, head pounding. _If something happens to Uraraka-san…I won't be able to forgive myself!_

"R-right!"

Taking her hand, he pulled her out from under the counter, raising one hand up to shield himself; he knew that he had a "second chance", so to speak, but he didn't want to use it if he could help it, and so he ducked into the doorway of the shop next door, waiting for the shaking to stop.

People around them screamed.

"We should help!" Uraraka shouted, from behind him, and Izuku stiffened.

 _Oh no._

He agreed – he wholly, entirely agreed. But, but – _can I!? With this power!? I can't control it, I can either go one-hundred percent or nothing at all…and if I go one hundred percent, Phoenix will trigger, and…_

Izuku didn't want to think about what would happen then.

Still, he wasn't oblivious to the shouts, the screams, the damage, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to focus on getting Uraraka out of harm's way when so many others were in it, too…

 _Wait. Uraraka-san got into Yuuei just like you did. She can handle herself,_ he scolded, mentally. _And what's more, her Quirk is_ perfect _for this! Zero Gravity…she can make rubble weightless so I can shift it aside more easily!_

"Alright!" he barked, finding his voice. "Uraraka-san! Let's do this!" He wasn't ignorant of the danger facing them, but adrenaline pumped through his veins, clouding his judgement and his pain receptors, and he knew – _this was his – no, their time to be heroes!_

A support strut, on their right, collapsed.

Izuku watched it fall in slow motion, arcing toward a terrified family, the father trying his hardest to shield his wife and daughter, and he called out to them, taking off without a second thought; Uraraka shouted after him, running behind him, and he dove, seeking to push them out of harm's way; at the very last second, Uraraka touched his leg with the pads of her fingers and he went flying low along the ground, crashing into the family and shoving them aside.

Metal, lumber and drywall fell around them.

Blood spattered the ground.

In his haste to save them he hadn't noticed the opposite wall falling inward, and his tackle had taken them straight into its path, and while his own body has taken the brunt of the damage, the child was unconscious, a spectacular crimson streak down her face; she'd been hit in the head, but before he could assess the damage, a crowd came sprinting down the hall at full pelt, heedless of the people on the ground, and it was all he could do to try and stand, bracing himself against the tide –

 _Crash._

"What the hell is going on!?" he heard someone scream, and he whipped around, looking for Uraraka –

"Over here, Deku-kun!" There. A hand waving over a sea of heads.

"Can you make it to me?"

"I dunno, I might be able to if I – " and she went quiet, and a moment later he spotted her shoving her way past some folks who all looked more than a little miffed. Still standing guard as the two parents tended to their child, he let her come to him, and when they'd reunited and the crowd passed, he realized rain was pouring in through the shattered ceiling, the broken skylights with glass shards dropping like glittering hail –

 _Thud._

"Deku-kun, I'm – "

Everything was happening so _fast_ , so _suddenly,_ and he barely had time to react before the _floor_ collapsed under her feet, and the jagged edge of a pipe – _how is everything broken like this!?_ – slashed up her midriff and caught on her shirt, leaving her to dangle over the chasm of what Izuku could only suppose was the mall basement.

"Uraraka-san! I – are you okay!?"

"Um, I dunno, I'm cut pretty bad, but I'm alive. Are they okay?"

He checked.

"How is she?" he asked, softening his voice; around them, rain spattered into blood, slicking the floor with wet crimson, and the father looked up, his face haggard and his hands red.

"Breathing! T-thank you for – "

"There's no need to thank me!" he cut in, forcing a smile. "That's…that's what heroes do, right?"

"Well, okay, but maybe you should save your friend!"

A terse nod, and he whirled to clasp Uraraka by the wrist, slick with sweat and _so much blood blood everywhere_ and her face flushed and determined and scared and righteous all at once, and he pulled straight up; she'd used her Quirk on herself, and he was able to keep her away from the jagged pipe edge this time, letting her rest on the floor. The shaking had mostly stopped, and aside from crumbling bits of sheetrock here and there, so had the falling debris, but Uraraka –

"Uraraka-san, you're bleeding…"

"I-I'll be okay," she gasped, but she was pale, and _the blood the blood the blood the_

"Come on. Both of you need to see a doctor!" he instructed, trying to keep a level head, and he picked her up in a bridal carry; for a moment, he thought he'd pass out, but warmth flooded his body a moment later – _I wasn't even injured! what's happening?_ – and he was able to stand, fire like candleflame rippling up and down his forearms as he lifted her. "Can you two walk?"

"Y-yeah, we – "

"Okay. It'll be okay. We'll be fine." He wasn't sure if he was telling them or himself at this point, but: "You can do this!"

A nod from the father. The mother stroked the daughter's hair.

"D-Deku-kun…"

"Hey. Uraraka-san. It's gonna be okay. You're gonna be alright," he promised, though the fear screaming through his veins said otherwise, and she smiled a little.

"…'S alright," she murmured, through lips that, to his relief, hadn't lost color. "I trust ya."

A smile, and a real one this time.

"Good. 'Cause…'cause I trust you too, Uraraka-san!"

A beat. Her hands grasped the back of his shirt.

"…Thanks for making me weightless back there. I don't think I'd have made it if you hadn't."

"'S what I'm here for," she slurred, and it occurred to him that the slur might have been more from her overusing her Quirk on herself (so that he could lift her – of course!) than her actual injury.

"Take it easy, Uraraka-san. How about your daughter? Is she holding up?" he called back, to a pair of nods. With a grunt of effort, he managed to kick open one of the mall doors, holding it open with his back for the small family to move safely through before limping after them; even the strength of Phoenix couldn't restore lost stamina…

His phone. There was a text there, one he'd missed from his mother a while ago, but he ignored it, dialing emergency services, though he figured the call center was inundated with similar calls at that very moment. When he'd managed to get through and explain his situation, he opened the text:

 _Izuku, sweetie, would you mind picking up some milk on your way back?_

Yeah, he had some explaining to do.

By the time the ambulances arrived, the girl had come to, in a state of understandable distress, while Uraraka drifted in and out of a doze, though the paramedics said she'd be fine. Not willing to let her go so easily, he rode to the hospital alongside her, letting them check on his injuries only after they'd done as much as they could for her.

Not that he _had_ any injuries. He'd been hit by the collapsing wall, yes, but whatever had sent the fire shooting up his arms had repaired any damage he'd taken.

Which brought him back to – what _was_ Phoenix?

This made the second time now he'd triggered it, even by accident, outside of taking injury (the first being the burns he'd given Bakugou during their first fight), and furthermore, this trigger method hadn't had any sort of limiting factor like recharge time; while it was less potent in terms of power, and it didn't _incinerate heavily damaged body parts to replace them_ , it felt like something closer to earth, something within his reach that he could access without blowing himself up first. One For All, on the other hand, still felt like some out-of-reach sacred power that could only hurt him…

Uraraka stirred.

"…D…Deku-kun…?" she mumbled, and he leaned in.

"Uraraka-san! You're in an ambulance. Please, stay still, okay?"

"…'Kay." Groggily, she opened her eyes, blinking at him, and that smile crossed her lips again. "She okay?"

"She was when I checked. They're riding right behind us."

"Good."

Silence fell between them, not uncomfortable, until Izuku sighed. "I'm sorry that the first time we hung out went like this."

To his disbelief, she _giggled._ "Haha…Deku-kun, why are you apologizin'? It ain't like you blew up the mall. 'S fine. Was my idea to go there in the first place."

"B-but you shouldn't be sorry either!" he spluttered. "You just wanted noodles…"

"Yeah, I'm a lil' upset 'bout that. They're still trapped under the wall that fell on 'em."

"We'll just have to get you some next time we're out, then," he suggested brightly, without thinking, before the implications of everything he'd just said fell on him harder than a collapsing wall and he turned red as a tomato.

"Next time?" she repeated, and he blanched, but then she burst into another fit of giggles. "Sorry, Deku-kun. Had to see your face when I said that. Guess we'll have to find another noodle shop, though."

And that was how, in the middle of everything, Izuku had accidentally asked Uraraka on something his mother would _most definitely_ call a date.

* * *

That evening found Izuku seated in warm lamplight by a windowpane beleaguered by a day of rain and wind, Uraraka dozing in a hospital bed next to him. Her injuries hadn't been severe, thankfully, and he'd heard nothing of the family he'd at least saved from being crushed to death, but some part of him still felt like he'd _failed._

 _That girl was hurt because I didn't protect her as well as I should have._

A sigh escaped his parted lips.

Both his mother and Uraraka's parents came to visit.

The latter had nothing but praise for Izuku, saying how excited she'd been to make a new friend so soon at Yuuei (part of him had completely seen this coming, and part of him, as well as his mother, was incredibly, unbelievably flattered and flustered that she'd thought so highly of him as to bring him up to her parents), then going on to say how much of a hero he was to them, for saving their daughter, for saving

 _his best friend_

her, for saving Uraraka.

His mother gave Uraraka a sad little smile when she woke, introducing herself: "I'm Midoriya Inko. This…isn't how I thought we'd meet, I'm sorry. But it's good to meet you, though I didn't think it would be so soon."

"I'm happy to meet you, too, Midoriya-san," and there was that winning, pure smile of hers.

Midoriya Inko smiled right back.

Eventually, they'd had to go home, leaving Uraraka alone with her parents, but he got a text from her later that night regardless, just a few words.

 _thank you, deku-kun._

The feelings were bittersweet.

 _If I'd been more careful, you wouldn't have gotten hurt. Neither would that girl._

He typed out this thought and sent it. A minute later, he received a reply.

 _don't say that! its not your fault at all that the floor gave out, or that i got hurt. you pulled me back up where it was safe and carried me outside, and you stayed with me the entire time up til you left._

A beat, and a second message.

 _deku-kun, if you hadnt done anything, there wouldnt be a girl anymore._

 _But what about everyone else who got hurt?_ he blurted out, and it really hit him just then how _heavy_ being a hero might be. _How does All Might deal with it…?_

 _we're not heroes yet, deku-kun. we tried our best!_

On the other end of the line, Uraraka Ochako wiped tears from her face with a sterile white cotton corner. _My Quirk's perfect for saving people…but I ended up havin' to use it on myself to help Deku-kun get me out of that hole. I coulda done a lot more._

Izuku didn't respond for a bit. By the time he did, she'd already dozed off again, and she didn't see his message:

 _It still wasn't enough._

* * *

Sunday brought about the revelation that the incident at the mall the previous day hadn't been an isolated one.

He'd naturally headed off to the hospital to visit Uraraka the next afternoon; she'd gotten stitches and was set to be discharged that evening, and as they waited, they checked the news for any additional information they could get.

Either surprisingly or unsurprisingly – depending on how one wanted to view it – there wasn't much more than what they'd experienced firsthand. No explanation of how a third of a building less than ten years old and under active maintenance had suddenly crumbled to bits, just a casualty report: one hundred and ten injured, three killed.

 _Three killed._

"Deku-kun, I – "

"I know."

She fiddled with the edge of the sheet. Izuku checked the time on his phone.

"…I'm gonna talk to All Might tomorrow. I don't know how he does it."

He'd spoken without really thinking ( _maybe it's because you're comfortable around her?_ ), and belatedly, it occurred to him that nobody besides himself and the school nurse was aware of their mentor-pupil relationship. Since beginning school, he hadn't spoken to the man much; both were busy, All Might as a teacher and Izuku as a student, and furthermore, unless he wanted to go undercover, he could only appear in public as All Might for a few hours each day.

Luckily, Uraraka didn't see anything particularly odd about his statement.

"Yeah, mind if I come too? Getting a chance to talk to the number one hero about all this would be pretty cool, and now ya mention it, we actually _can_ , 'cuz he's our teacher now." She tried to smile, but there was a pain behind it that he couldn't discern the nature of. Maybe physical, maybe emotional, maybe a little of both.

 _We were there. We're training to be heroes. We should have done something._

"If he's alright with it, I don't see a problem with you coming too."

* * *

"…and you see, that's…kinda why we're here."

"Midoriya, my boy, why are you apologizing for that?"

"Deku-kun, that was too much apology."

"S-sorry, I just – "

Both Uraraka and All Might laughed, a girlish giggle and a deep, booming sound (thankfully, coming from their respective sources; Izuku would have been _highly_ concerned had it been the other way around, for more reasons than one).

Still, as they took spots on the loveseat across from the number one hero and number seven teacher at Yuuei, the laughter slipped away. All Might took a seat in the middle of the wider sofa across from them, and though the smile was still on his face, Izuku could sense the tension in the air.

"So. You two were in the Shizuocha mall's collapsed wing. Are you both okay? I'd heard young Uraraka had been injured, but the report stated that her injuries were minor. Still – "

"Oh, no, I'll be fine," she interrupted, nervous, and Izuku gave a twisted little half-smile that he decided to leave open to interpretation.

"I'm glad to hear it. As for you, young Midoriya, there was a little girl saying a boy with green hair and freckles had saved her and her parents from falling debris. Said she hit her head pretty hard, but she was happy you'd been there."

He couldn't help it. He started crying. And when Midoriya Izuku cried, he cried _a lot._

"Deku-kun…"

Ignoring the way the waterfall of tears quite literally splashed down her front, Uraraka twisted in place to give him a brief, awkward hug, her eyes filled with concern, and All Might allowed them a moment before he went on.

"Were you worried about them?"

"Ah, n-no," he sniffled. "Well, yes! But I was more thinking…I'm why she hit her head, and I get that there'd be six dead instead of three if Uraraka-san and I hadn't done anything…but still, if I'd been more careful…and then there were so many other people hurt, and – "

"And you couldn't get to all of them."

The voice that spoke was much quieter than All Might's usual dulcet tones, and when Izuku looked up, the trademark smile had slipped off the other's face entirely, replaced with an emotion he never thought he'd see there: sorrow, guilt, regret.

"Midoriya, my boy…I've said it in interviews before, as I'm sure you know, but even though I smile like there's nobody I can't save, the truth is, there have been a _lot_ of people I haven't been able to get to in time."

Uraraka's eyes went wide as saucers, and Izuku swallowed, hard, a lump in his throat.

"There are people with Quirks better suited to rescue than mine – " _that's a stretch,_ Izuku thought; _I've seen video footage of you moving incredibly heavy rubble aside faster than the eye can see!_ " – who have the same regrets. Thirteen, for instance, though I'm not sure how much of their personal business they'd be okay with me telling you. I'll let you in on a little secret: you'll be heading to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint this Friday. You can ask them then, if you want. But keep it quiet!" he added, and when both students had sworn themselves to silence, he went on. "Being a hero is an incredibly dangerous and taxing job, both mentally and physically. I'm sorry you had to experience this firsthand so soon into your schooling, but I guess the earlier you're exposed to it, the faster you'll adjust."

"That's one way of looking at it," Izuku shrugged.

"But, um, All Might-sensei," Uraraka started, and to his surprise, the corners of her eyes looked a little wet. "I could have done more, too, but…I had to use my Quirk to let Deku-kun lift me out of a hole where the floor collapsed, and I passed out – "

"Young Uraraka, nobody was expecting you to be a hero at all that day," All Might cut in. "You helped young Midoriya to save that family instead of getting yourselves out immediately. And while, as your teacher, I must stress that you not put yourselves in danger like that again, as a fellow hero…I'm proud."

 _A fellow hero..._

"What is it now, Midoriya!? You're going to have to stop being such a crybaby someday!"

"…I think Deku-kun just needs to cry himself out." Uraraka spoke up then, softly amidst the choking sobs from her left, and All Might paused, mouth still open, before closing it and dipping his head.

* * *

That night, he received another text from Uraraka.

 _it's kinda funny but the cut's already fully healed, I went to go see the doctor a little after I got home and there's barely even a scar._

 _Wait, already? That wasn't just a scratch,_ he typed back.

 _i know right? must've been all those tears you got me with, haha_

Tears. Didn't phoenix tears reputedly have healing powers? Not that phoenixes existed, but…

Something told him his Quirk was a lot more than just fire.


	7. Chapter 7

**This chapter was a little on the rough side to write, but I think the next one will be even worse, for very different reasons.**

 **I'm super rusty with action sequences, and most of my writing is done in the so-called "wee hours" of the morning, where my brain isn't operating at maximum capacity, so I apologize in advance for any stylistic failings on my end.**

* * *

 _No rest for the wicked._

Red eyes beneath grey hair like snow dirtied by exhaust.

"Shigaraki."

"Eh?"

"What was the point of that attack?"

Thin shoulders shrugged under black cotton.

"People died. No heroes came to save them. The less heroes people see, the less confidence they'll have in them. Isn't that right?"

The question was directed at a man hog-tied to a chair, dressed in what looked to be a hero costume, but whatever his Quirk was, it wasn't helping him now. A grin, a sick and twisted smile, peeked from behind the severed hand clutching Shigaraki's face, and without even batting an eye, he touched five fingers to the man's throat.

The screams started instantly.

It didn't last long. Within four seconds the decay spread to his larynx, cutting off his voice; within ten, it had turned his entire head to dust, and within thirty the rest of him had crumbled into a pile of discolored, sticky debris.

Silence. Then –

"Was that necessary?" The speaker hadn't even flinched, simply continued polishing the glass stein he held in one smoky hand with an uncannily clean rag.

"No."

With a sigh, the other set both stein and rag upon the bar he stood behind, leaning on the heels of his hands as they pressed flat to the pristine mahogany. "Weren't you listening when he told you to act always with purpose?"

"Kurogiri."

"What?"

"I said it wasn't necessary, not that it didn't have a purpose." Through two parted fingers on the severed hand, one red eye leered unpleasantly out at Kurogiri, who would have rolled his own if they hadn't simply been yellow light burned into the mass of black mist that was his head.

"And what might that have been?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Shigaraki leaned over the bar and snatched a bottle of soda from the shelf behind Kurogiri, keeping his pinky off of it, and twisted the cap off with his free hand, taking a swig. "Every little thing we do spreads just a little more misery.

"Every single death is another hero we won't have to face."

* * *

"Nobody showed up at the mall?"

"No heroes, no."

Izuku and Uraraka took their seats on the bus, next to one another, Izuku by the window.

"Not a single hero arrived until it was over?" Uraraka asked again, and Izuku nodded for the fourth time.

"The rescue heroes showed up, but it seems that every first-response hero in the area was occupied with something else."

"How'd you even find this out? N-not that I don't believe you!" she stammered, rushing to correct any false impressions, but Izuku just shot her a sideways smile and chuckled.

"It's okay, Uraraka-san. Um, I kinda…overheard Aizawa-sensei and some of the other teachers talking when I had lunch with All Might yesterday. I shouldn't even be telling you this, but…" _But why?_

"You can trust me, Deku-kun! I'll keep it on the down-low!" She winked, and he relaxed a little. "But, um…why were you two having lunch again? I-if you don't mind me asking!"

Izuku didn't mind, but even so, how would he explain to her that he'd asked All Might for a talk on Monday after they'd discussed the mall incident? How would he explain that he _quite literally had All Might's Quirk?_

He wouldn't. But he could at least tell her about his concerns. "Um, well, All Might and I have a similar powerup-type Quirk, and he's the only one of the staff that I know who has one like that…so I was asking him about how to regulate my output. Right now I can only go full power or none, and if I go full power, it causes way too much damage to the surrounding area. Worse, it hurts me and ends up triggering my healing factor, and that seems to light everything on fire if I use it in conjunction with the rest of my Quirk." He could hardly believe the words coming out of his own mouth – he'd thought himself Quirkless not quite a year prior, but at the same time, he supposed he had reason to disbelieve them. He'd told her – not a lie, but a half-truth, making it sound like Phoenix was responsible for _all_ of his power, and sometimes a half-truth was just as bad if not worse.

Still. It couldn't hurt her not to know; in fact, he was fairly certain that her knowing everything would actually put her in _more_ danger than she'd already been in, and that was the last thing he wanted to do. It was for this reason that he hadn't even told his own mother, choosing instead to pretend as if he'd no idea why anything that wasn't Phoenix had taken him so long to access.

Shifting his gaze over the bus, he lingered a moment on Bakugou; the two hadn't exactly spoken directly since the battle trial, outside of his former friend's outburst the day after, and Izuku wasn't keen on addressing the blonde in any respect. Nor, it seemed, was the rest of the class, considering he sat alone, glaring through the window.

He'd debated, after defeating him rather soundly, telling Bakugou the truth about his Quirk – his _Quirks_ – but the more time he'd spent with Uraraka, the more he'd realized what a _true_ friend was. Even if they'd only known one another for two weeks, she'd been everything he'd never known he needed in someone, and even though she didn't address the issue on her own, hadn't at all after the battle trials, her words then and at the mall on Saturday had rooted themselves in his head…

…and, frankly, he didn't owe Bakugou a _damn_ thing. _I can kind of see how he got so cocky, though. Having a powerful Quirk tends to make you feel like you're on top of the world…_

Idly, Izuku studied the back of his own hand. He was lucky, he reflected, that his Quirks synced up so well; if he'd only had Phoenix, he'd have had to sustain heavy damage in order to use any sort of power ( _or would he?_ a small voice in his mind whispered; _you've used shreds of its power without it_ ), and if he'd only had One For All, he'd have to deal with the reparations of using it – namely, shattered limbs. As it stood, Phoenix covered One For All's weaknesses (well, once a day, or so he figured), and One For All provided him with the power output he couldn't get out of Phoenix.

On top of that, Phoenix still seemed to be hiding a few secrets from him. His current suspicion was that the tears he shed so easily might have some kind of healing ability; without him actually asking, Uraraka had showed him the scar on her stomach where the broken pipe had gouged her (he'd blushed harder than he'd thought was humanly possible, and she'd followed suit when she realized she'd just lifted her shirt in front of him), and in the second he'd looked before awkwardly averting his eyes, he'd noted that it possessed the same appearance as the scars on his limbs from the time he'd used One For All without Phoenix's incendiary healing – that is, a wound far older than a day.

Uraraka herself had given him the idea in a joking text on Monday night, but he'd taken it to heart. He managed to get himself to cry the next time he injured himself, and he'd felt quite silly letting tears drip onto the wound (a paper cut, of all things), but nothing had happened – perhaps they didn't work on his own body?

He'd feel sillier asking the next person he saw injure themselves to cry on them, but how else was he supposed to test his hypothesis…?

Shaking his head, he glanced through the window to his right, watching as the main campus slid out of sight, replaced by a veil of trees; a couple of minutes later, they came out into a wide field, in the center of which lay what seemed to be some sort of glass acropolis.

" _This_ is the Unforeseen Simulation Joint," came Aizawa's drawl over the bus speakers. "We'll be introducing you to rescue training today. I don't think that's something you'd have to ask questions about, but my superiors have informed me that I should ask you if you have any."

Silence.

"Very well. You will disembark in single file, starting from the front right seat, moving to the front left seat, then back a row, from right to left."

By the time they'd gotten off the bus, Aizawa had already brought what seemed to be an animate space suit out of the building before them, standing at the top of the rough marble staircase some ten meters away.

"That's – " Izuku started, preparing his typical introduction speech for a pro hero, but Uraraka cut him off.

"The Space Hero, Thirteen!" she gushed, to his surprise; he'd never seen her so excited, but he smiled nonetheless, seeing the way her rosy cheeks lit up and she rocked on her feet like a bird about to take flight. "I've looked up to them ever since I was a little girl!"

The space suit remained silent until they'd made their way inside, down a runway of sorts leading to the top of another staircase, then turned to face them, tossing its arms out with palms open.

"Greetings!" From the voice, Izuku couldn't tell if the person within was male or female (if there even _was_ anyone within; knowing Quirks, they might _be_ the suit). "Welcome, students of Yuuei, to the USJ! Today, along with Eraser, I'll be showing you around the various disaster sites we've replicated here and running you through basic rescue training drills at each one, as well as helping you find new ways to use your Quirks outside of just fighting! Remember, while Yuuei puts emphasis on combat training, at the end of the day, you are using your Quirks to _help_ people, not harm them, and that's what this is about."

And then someone used their Quirk to harm Thirteen.

Nobody was quite sure what had happened at first; ascending the marble steps, they only saw the Space Hero clutch their wrist as if stung and Aizawa whip around as fast as he could on one heel, bracing the other against the platform as he stopped. Then Tsuyu spotted it, sticking out of a swirling point of black mist: a hand with, as cliché a Quirk as it might have been, gun barrels in place of fingers.

The black mist convulsed, expanding, growing, spreading like some vicious plague across the plain in the center of the USJ, spanning a wicked gate that hung low and ominous over the ground before, gradually, the movement in its depths turned to concrete figures, the shapes of villains as they made their way through the warp and into the building.

"What the hell is that?" Kirishima hissed, hands balling into fists; Aizawa stuck out an arm to either side, hair rising up alongside the scarf he always wore, and before anyone could say anything, he'd barked at Thirteen to get them safely out of the building while he dealt with –

"Are those villains!?" Kaminari blurted out, more than a little terrified, and the Space Hero nodded.

"It would seem so. For now, just do as your teacher says!" they commanded, turning to lead the class from the building, but before they'd even made it ten paces, that same black mist erupted before them, this time forming the discernible shape of a head with two piercing yellow eyes atop an otherwise amorphous mass.

"What the – "

"So, these are the students we were instructed to kill."

The voice was lazy, sonorous, composed, resonating from both everywhere and nowhere, and it sent chills down the spine of each and every student there; Thirteen, on the other hand, remained unfazed.

"They're the students _I_ was instructed to protect, but even if I hadn't been told to, I'd still protect them with my life! Can you say the same of your own conviction, villain?"

"Jeez," muttered Sero. "This guy's really into it."

"Good!" Uraraka hissed. "This kind of determination is what makes a hero! Right, Deku-kun?"

"O-oh! Um, yeah," Izuku got out, a little startled at being dragged into it.

The mist rippled in a shrug, and the voice rang out again.

"Does it really matter? If you're willing to give your life, though, I'll gladly take that too. Now, I fully admit that I don't trust any of the small fry we've brought in to be able to handle even first-years in the hero course, at least against your numbers…so how about we split that up, hmm?"

And just like that, Izuku found his world fading, fading, fading; he reached out for Uraraka's hand, but their fingertips barely brushed before he found himself standing on a rocky slope next to none other than –

"Todoroki-kun?"

"Mm? Oh. Midoriya. You might want to jump." As surprised as he was that Todoroki had even remembered his name, he still managed to follow the other's instruction, just in time for a creeping wave of ice to surge across the ground in all directions.

 _Wow…he didn't even hesitate, huh?_

In the instant they'd been there, Todoroki had immediately assessed that they were surrounded by villains on all sides and launched a countermeasure, effectively immobilizing the thirty-odd people around them in the second Izuku had been airborne; landing atop the ice, he glanced from side to side, then gaped at Todoroki himself, whose expression hadn't changed in the slightest.

"Todoroki-kun, that was – "

"What do you want?"

The question wasn't directed at Izuku, but rather at the man closest to them, who'd been frozen up to his neck.

"Oh, and I should add…you've got about a minute before the cold starts killing off your cells one by one, and I'd rather not hurt anyone if I can avoid it."

 _Holy crap._

He'd not had much interaction with the aloof heterochrome before, but this…fell exactly in line with what he'd expected from a loner like Todoroki, actually. Still, actually seeing his power and cool head in person was different than simply expecting it, and Izuku was a little awed.

"Don't ask me!" the man gasped; whatever was happening to him, it was clearly causing him some difficulty breathing. "They just told us to start killin' kids, and – "

"I find it hard to believe even scum like you would sink that low just for the sake of it," Todoroki interrupted, pointing his right arm at the man's head, and he blanched even paler, if that was even possible. "So tell me, what are you _really_ after?"

"Okay, okay! Just – just put that thing down, okay?" – and Izuku realized an icicle the size of a tank shell had formed around Todoroki's outstretched hand – "We got told to watch out for All Might, an' try to kill him if he showed up. Figured if we started goin' after kids, he'd come, and – "

"That's all I need to know." His voice alone was enough to quiet the villain before them, and he knelt, touching his left hand to the frozen earth for a moment before returning to his feet. "You'll thaw soon enough. I expect you to turn yourselves in when you do, and if you don't, then I'll have no qualms about leaving you frozen next time."

Todoroki's tone didn't invite argument.

"Come on, Midoriya. I don't know where the others went, but let's try and get everyone back together."

And, just like that, he'd gone from cold-as-ice to melting just enough to show he did, in some way, care for his classmates.

"C-coming!"

Todoroki had been one of the only two to keep up with Izuku during the endurance running test, the other being Bakugou, and the two now sprinted side-by-side for the next area, running clockwise around the outer ring of trees for the mountain to the south. Any other time, Izuku would have marveled at the sheer _size_ of the place, but right just then, all that mattered was keeping his classmates safe, even if he got hurt doing it…!

"Calm down," Todoroki instructed him. "You don't need to go activating your Quirk on me." Startled at the hostility he felt, Izuku glanced down at his hands, only to see that, somehow, he'd activated the phoenix-fire again, though what it actually did, he wasn't sure; all he'd seen from his unintentional Quirk triggers was a little flame.

"S-sorry, Todoroki-kun." Relaxing as much as he could while running, he let the flames vanish, then glanced up at his erstwhile companion once again.

The other didn't respond, going silent for a moment; when he spoke, it was unrelated to Izuku's Quirk. "So they're after All Might?"

"W-well, yeah, but he's not even here, so they're trying to lure him here by attacking us, right?"

"I guess so. Even so, how did they know he'd even be on campus today?" Todoroki seemed to be talking more to himself than to Izuku, and as they reached the foot of the mountain, the sounds of combat reached them.

"Well, we got a copy of today's curriculum a couple days ago when they announced we'd be going to the USJ," Izuku mused, and Todoroki whipped his head around to glare at him, just as an irregularly flickering light cast the rocks around them in a yellow glow.

"Then only the teachers at Yuuei and the students of class 1-A could have known about it, correct? So someone would have had to let something slip."

For a moment, Izuku stared wide-eyed at Todoroki, whose expression remained cool and calm, but then it hit him that it had gone silent, and he took off up the rocky slope, shouting.

"Midoriya! Get back, you don't know what – "

"…Kaminari-kun? And – aah! Yaoyorozu-san! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Todoroki rounded the corner Izuku had disappeared behind to find Kaminari standing still in the middle of a clearing, giving a double thumbs-up while Izuku blushed uncontrollably and faced the stone wall to his left. Across from the pair who'd just arrived, Yaoyorozu Momo slipped on a new vest, while Jirou Kyouka rolled her eyes at either Izuku or Kaminari – Todoroki couldn't tell. Social cues had never been his thing.

"Are you guys okay?" Izuku managed to say, after he'd confirmed it was safe to look at Yaoyorozu again, and the girls nodded. He decided to ignore Kaminari for the time being; Izuku had a feeling that in his current state, Kaminari could give that dumb grin through a firebombing.

"Yeah, we're fine. Thanks to Yaomomo, mostly, but Jamming-whey here had a part in it, too," Jirou told him, rolling her eyes.

"Wheeey?"

"Shut up."

"There's one thing that's bothering me, though…" Yaoyorozu interrupted their exchange, and the other three looked up at her. "Kaminari-kun told me that he wasn't able to reach anyone through his earpiece, and I tried making one myself, but I'm not getting a signal either…"

"That's odd. Shouldn't the USJ have full service?" Jirou asked.

"I mean, yeah, it's technically part of Yuuei's campus, and it isn't like it's in the middle of nowhere," Izuku told her, and Todoroki cleared his throat.

"It's possible the signal's being jammed by some method," he suggested, glancing at Kaminari. "An electric-type Quirk user could do it."

Izuku could hardly believe what Todoroki was suggesting. "You don't think that – "

"That's right, kid! Haaahaha!"

"What the – "

 _Slam._

Without any warning whatsoever ( _isn't it always this way with villains?_ ), an absolute mountain of a man crashed down next to the still-short-circuited Kaminari, grabbing ahold of him and lifting him in one hand like he was a doll.

"Oh. It's this trope again." Beside him, Izuku could hear Todoroki's quiet commentary. "The cheerful mountain man type."

"I-isn't this where a hero usually comes in and saves us?" Jirou stammered, losing her composure at the sight of the limp Kaminari (who wasn't unconscious at all, simply not in any state to resist). Izuku clenched his fists; the man before them, he felt, was on a very different level than the fodder that lay unconscious around them, that Todoroki had left on the landslide slope, and until he knew just what level that was, he had no plans to engage…but…

 _But Kaminari-kun…_

"Midoriya-kun!" Todoroki warned, but it was far too late; Izuku's right arm lit up like a firework, crackling with a pale green electricity as angry red lines crisscrossed the skin, but just as he launched the bone-breaking punch, golden fire erupted from the lines, wrapping around him and enveloping his entire arm in a soothing glow as he shot forward in a blur, ramming his fist into the man's midriff; whatever level he was on, it clearly wasn't enough to withstand One For All as the flames rippled down his arm on impact and a burning shockwave erupted at the point of contact, surging with the wind pressure from his punch to send his adversary rocketing into the mountainside, releasing Kaminari with the sheer shock of the blow.

He didn't get up out of the crater he'd left in the rock.

"Is…is he dead?" Yaoyorozu asked, biting her lip, and Izuku shook his head, tears springing to his eyes. _Oh god. Oh god. Did I just…?_

"I don't know. But considering what he was most likely going to do to us, does it really matter?" Todoroki put in, scowling, but –

"Todoroki-kun, I don't want to be a hero who hurts people!" Izuku blurted out, to a stunned silence, and to his surprise, it was Jirou who spoke next, after a few quiet seconds during which tears started to pour down his face.

"You've both got a point. I honestly don't think it's worth worrying about him either, but at the same time, I don't want to end up becoming worse than the people we're up against. That works for some heroes, I guess, but…it's not who I wanna be. Besides, we have classmates we should be helping now, right? …Midoriya-kun?"

 _This – I can at least do this much, right?_

He'd crossed to the man he'd hit, and from this close, he could see the other's chest rising and falling, but still, he reached up, wiping one hand across his soaked cheeks and slinging a couple of rounds of fresh tears across the spot where his punch had hit; he wasn't sure if it meant anything, or if it would do anything at all, but…he had to try.

It was all he could do.

"Midoriya-kun?" Yaoyorozu called after him, and he glanced up.

"Is Kaminari-kun alright?" he asked her, and in response, she pointed; the blonde was totally unharmed, simply lying on the ground, still grinning that stupid grin and giving a thumbs-up to the sky. With a sigh of relief, Izuku jogged back over to the group, and Jirou tugged Kaminari to his feet.

"Come on," Todoroki instructed. "We're not done here."

"Where to next?" asked Yaoyorozu. In response, she simply received a shrug.

"Midoriya and I simply moved clockwise from the landslide zone where we were transported, so once we reach the central plaza, we'll head to the conflagration zone."

"Sounds good to me."

Once they were in sight of the USJ's center, however, their plans took a fairly drastic turn.

Opposite them, on the other side of the plaza between the storm zone and flood zone (where, oddly, the ship from earlier had disappeared entirely), they could make out the familiar shape of Tokoyami, Dark Shadow hanging over him like a shroud; next to him, a figure they could only assume was Kouda, and next to them, the hunched form of Tsuyu and Mineta's tiny stature. To their right, going counterclockwise back to the ruined zone, Kirishima and Bakugou emerged from the trees, while back by the entrance, what seemed to be the rest of the class hadn't been transported anywhere at all and knelt around a grey lump Izuku recognized to be Thirteen, lying still on the ground.

 _No…_

The black mist villain from earlier had rejoined his comrades in the USJ's center, standing (floating?) next to an emaciated man whose limbs were all grasped by a number of what Izuku dearly hoped weren't real severed hands and a hulk of a creature with the body of a man (one as buff as All Might himself, no less) and the disfigured head of a bird, with its brain exposed and protruding through a shattered hole in the top of the skull. Before them, Aizawa Shouta stood amidst the unconscious bodies of no less than forty-seven minor villains, hands in his pockets and goggles over his eyes.

"Noumu."

The emaciated man spoke.

"Take care of our friend for me, will you?"

With a speed Izuku had only ever seen once before, the bird-man launched itself at Aizawa, whose reflexes simply weren't enough to save him, and he found himself clutched in its grasp for just an instant before –

 _Slam._

"Oh, no," Izuku breathed, tears welling up in his eyes once more.

Without even hesitating, the thing – the "Noumu" – had rammed their teacher's face into the dirt, blood pooling from beneath matted bangs, and the man who'd commanded it tilted his head back in a laugh.

"And so ends Eraserhead. It's fitting, isn't it? That your end will come with having your head erased."

"No!"

It had been Yaoyorozu who'd screamed, and it was Yaoyorozu who the three villains in the plaza center turned to face.

"Oh." Soft, deadly. "I see the students have already taken out the cannon fodder. But they were just adds, no need to worry. The final boss is right here."

Behind the hand clutching his face, a grin.

One that was wiped away the next second by the weight of the Noumu slamming into him back-first.

"What the hell was that?" Jirou demanded, and almost as if in reply –

" _ **I am here!"**_

 _All Might! Oh, thank god, I –_

In an instant, the Noumu had crossed the gap between itself and All Might, delivering a heavy punch to the number one hero, right over his stomach – _right over his injury!_ Izuku realized, and he cringed, seeing All Might doing his best to stand through what he could only assume was incredible pain, judging from the way the hero grimaced…

 _He's not smiling at all._

A chill ran down his spine, but it was quickly replaced by a rush of blood through his body as the two titans squared off, facing each other down across ten meters before hurling across that gap in a blur of fists, matching one another blow for blow until they backed off, All Might's glare meeting the Noumu's unwavering blank stare.

"Do you like my Noumu?" the man behind it called, staggering to his feet. "We made him to kill you. It's nice, isn't it?"

"Not at all. Do you really think this thing can kill me?" All Might snorted. "It might be fast, but it's no match for me!"

"All Might…" murmured Izuku. Todoroki glanced at him sidelong, then bit his lip, bracing his legs; footsteps to their right told the four of them that Kirishima and Bakugou had seen fit to join them, and though Bakugou remained silent, Kirishima spoke up.

"Are we just gonna let this three-on-one happen up there? Plus, Aizawa-sensei's still on the ground in the middle of it, and if he gets stepped on by one of them…" Their spiky-haired classmate frowned, glancing at their teacher, then fixed Izuku and Todoroki with a piercing glare. "You two have some pretty strong Quirks. You wanna help me and Bakugou-kun here out?"

 _Bakugou-kun?_ Izuku thought, amused in spite of himself. "Um, I dunno," he started. "We should have a plan before we go in, anyway."

To his left, Todoroki nodded. "A plan sounds good to me."

"How the hell are you gonna keep up with something that can match All Might's speed, though?" countered Jirou, a frown spreading across her lips, but Todoroki already had an answer.

"I don't think we're going to be able to match its speed ourselves, but I could freeze it. I don't doubt that something like that has the strength to break out of a regular freeze, but if I hit it hard enough…"

"If we try to strike on our own," Izuku muttered, more to himself than anyone, and all eyes found him, "then I don't think we'll be able to set up an advantage without one of us being able to take a punch…and that's where I can come in. If I'm able to take its hit and regenerate through Phoenix, I should be able to stall it long enough for Todoroki-kun to immobilize it…and Kirishima-kun and Kacchan can deal with the other two if they're careful about the warp gate user…"

"Earth to Midoriya-kun." Kirishima waved a hand in front of Izuku's face, then flicked the tip of his nose.

"Ow! Oh, um, sorry. I got distracted," he admitted sheepishly, with the hint of a smile. Kirishima just grinned.

"I mean, if you want to try that…usually I'm the one taking hits, but I have a feeling something like that would break me into little pieces with just one blow."

Bakugou, who'd been silent so far, crossed his arms, scowling, and said nothing.

"I'll try and strike first while it's distracted with All Might. I'd rather save Midoriya's power if we can help it," Todoroki suggested.

"Sounds fine. Yaoyorozu-san, Jirou-san, can you two try to round up the rest of our classmates and figure out what happened to Thirteen?"

Back in the plaza, All Might looked more than a little winded.

"What _is_ this thing!?" he growled, through gritted teeth, and the emaciated man laughed again.

"I told you, it's a Noumu. We made it to kill you. It has a Quirk called 'Shock Absorption', which is why your hits aren't doing much. It's designed to withstand everything you can throw at it."

"Hm." The number one hero shifted his stance, bracing his back leg, then darted forward, bombarding it with a barrage of punches, but the Noumu didn't even flinch, returning the hits blow-for-blow –

A stream of – not ice, but subzero vapor – streaked across the plaza, striking the Noumu's right calf, and instantly, the flesh solidified, the creeping cold seeping into the thing's very bones, and the next impact from All Might's fists shattered the leg entirely, causing it to fall to one knee. For a moment, it seemed All Might would have an edge…but then the leg simply regenerated.

 _Crap._

The four students now standing at the edge of the field of combat stared, awed, at the two fighters, and then quite suddenly found themselves face-to-beak with the terrifying figure of the Noumu itself, which had sped across the gap in the blink of an eye to draw back its fist –

" _ **No!"**_

All Might leapt in to take the hit, aimed at Todoroki, and he managed to catch it, turning the Noumu's momentum against it and sending it sprawling onto the ground, but it was up in an instant, charging back in for the attack.

"I don't think we're gonna be able to use freezing it as a strategy if All Might's punches are just going to break it entirely!" Izuku shouted, over the screaming wind from the brawl, and Todoroki nodded. "Is there any way you could lower its temperature without actually freezing it?"

"Yeah, I can try – "

"My, my, what do we have here? Some brats who didn't die like they were told."

Seemingly unafraid, the man with the hands clutching his face, his neck, his limbs – this man, this monster, came to meet them, palms up in a mock gesture of friendship. _He's totally unafraid of any of our Quirks…does this mean he has a powerful Quirk himself? Or…could it be…_

His mind flashed back a mere few minutes, to the sight of Tsuyu on the edge of the flood zone, and it hit him.

 _They don't actually know what our Quirks are, outside of Todoroki's…or else they wouldn't have thrown a girl whose Quirk is "Frog" into a lake!_

"Kirishima-kun!" he ordered, thinking fast. "Use your Quirk to decrease his weight for me!"

"Wha – "

"Midoriya-kun, what are you - !?"

" _SMAAAASH!"_

Without even waiting for a response, without giving their opponent the chance to say more than his one line, Izuku lunged with a speed like none he'd managed to output before, crossing the five meters between them and striking the man's sternum with a punch that _didn't break my bones?_ he thought, but regardless, the force was adequate, sending the other hurtling back across the plaza toward the man with the warp-gate Quirk.

"Sorry about that, Kirishima-kun," he panted. "But I don't think they know what our Quirks are, and setting him up for an attack that wasn't coming was the only way I could think of to catch him off guard."

"Hey, dude, that was manly as hell! Don't even worry about it!" His classmate flashed him another toothy grin and a thumbs-up. "Good strategy!"

"But why would he even confront us four-on-one?" Todoroki mused.

"He was likely relying on his own Quirk to get him out of danger if we attacked, but I think he underestimated my speed," suggested Izuku. "But – "

"Hey! Shitrags! Look at All Might!"

Bakugou hadn't actually spoken yet, so they were surprised to hear his voice, but they heeded the command nonetheless, turning back from the still-dazed villain to find that the Noumu had, somehow, caught All Might in a reverse suplex, shoving him headfirst into a puddle of black mist. The end result was that All Might was caught, immobilized, halfway in a portal, and it suddenly hit Izuku what was about to happen.

"I didn't want to have to do this, you know."

"You again!" growled Kirishima, but the voice ignored him.

"I'd really rather not get someone's guts all over the inside of my warp gate…but if it's All Might, I suppose I can make an allowance. It wasn't like we came in without a backup plan in case you students tried to interfere or the Noumu couldn't kill him alone…and in the instant Shigaraki distracted you, it was able to pin him like so. And now, all that's left for me to do is close the gate, and – "

 _Boom._

"Bakugou, no!" Todoroki shouted; the hotheaded blonde had rocketed across the field, riding his own explosions, to strike the central mass of black mist, sending it reeling.

"Yes!" Izuku hissed, startling the other two; to their disbelief, he was _smiling._ "I think what Kacchan's doing is distracting him, just like Shigaraki went out of his way just to distract _us_!"

"So you're saying…?"

"Come on! We can still save him!"

 _Hang on, All Might…let_ us _save_ you _this time!_

"Right!" declared Kirishima. "Let's go!"

 _This is…what we can do for now!_

He'd been able to use One For All twice today without injuring himself, and he wasn't totally sure why – the first time, Phoenix had definitely intervened, but the second, it felt like he'd managed to regulate the power, if only for an instant; either way, this was his last shot, wasn't it? And this thing could take one hundred percent of All Might's power, so why bother giving it anything less…?

" _SMAAAASH!"_

"Young…Midoriya…! No…!"

 _Yes._

As his attack connected, Todoroki froze one of the Noumu's legs just as he had a moment prior, and the sheer shock of impact shattered the leg, throwing the Noumu off-balance; it didn't release its grip as it reeled sideways, pulling All Might from the hole, and though his shirt was stained with ( _his own?_ ) blood, the number one Hero still managed to pry himself from its grip, rolling away from it through the dirt.

Its prey out of reach, the Noumu turned to its next victim: Midoriya Izuku.

He had a split second to react before every bone in his body shattered from the force of the punch.

His bones had a split second to break before his entire body burned to ash.

"What the hell is that!?" he heard Kirishima scream; from his left, he dimly registered a series of explosions that told him Bakugou had found his opening against the warp-gate Quirk user.

"Kirishima-kun!" Izuku shouted. "Get Aizawa-sensei and – "

"No need! We've got him!" A familiar voice reached his ears, and he turned to see –

"Uraraka-san? Tokoyami-kun!? You two need to get back and – "

"No!" she yelled back. "It's okay, Deku-kun! Trust me!"

 _Trust me._ Like he had back at the mall…

"Okay!" And he meant it. "If you two can handle getting Aizawa-sensei out of here, then Kirishima-kun, go help Kacchan, okay?"

"Uh, y-yeah, sure, but are you sure you're gonna be alright?"

"I'll be fine!"

"Midoriya." It was Todoroki who addressed him this time. "I hate to say this, but using that fire of yours should cauterize its wounds if you break off the parts I freeze and immediately burn the flesh. You'll be able to stop it regenerating."

"Right!"

"Quit talking, you shitty fucking nerd! You're wasting time!" screamed Bakugou, from where he'd managed to pin down the mass of black mist with Kirishima's added help, and Izuku realized – _crap, he's right!_ He had no idea how long Phoenix lasted, but he needed to use it while he still could…!

"Todoroki-kun! Go!"

"Got it."

With deft precision, his classmate hurled bolts of ice, one after another, at the Noumu's limbs, and Izuku put all of his energy into keeping up with it long enough to shock it into breaking the affected parts; his head screamed, his body hurt, ash poured from him with every blow, building up and blowing away with the sheer force of his hits, and agony wracked his arms in particular each time he managed to match the Noumu's strikes.

When its arm broke off first, then, he didn't hesitate to press his advantage, screaming in – pain? fury? determination? – and lunging forward, gripping the exposed, bloodied stump with one palm burning bright with golden fire, scorching it beyond repair; when the arm didn't grow back, he knew Todoroki had been right, and with only one arm to contend with, he was able to hit back on top of blocking the Noumu's hits, punching burning craters into its torso and sending waves of flame cascading over its body with each movement of his own; he knew he was levitating off the ground, knew _his entire body_ had burst into flame this time, could barely see through the blinding light of his own fire, but he couldn't shake one thought:

 _We're going to do it. We're going to be heroes!_

The other arm froze. (He had to commend Todoroki on his aim, managing to hit even the thing's upper arm in the heat of their combat.) The other arm shattered. The other arm didn't grow back.

Knocking the thing off balance with a double-fisted strike, he could feel his power starting to wane, and as desperation crept in, he screamed: "Todoroki-kun! Now!"

"Watch out, Midoriya!"

He ducked aside in time for ice to flow in like liquid around the Noumu's form, freezing its body solid ( _this wasn't even part of what we talked about_ , he thought, dimly; _how did Todoroki-kun even know what I meant to do?_ ), then shot straight into the air under his own power, coming back down in the last seconds of Phoenix's power like a burning meteor just as a ring of ice erupted under him, closing in himself and the Noumu, which shattered into a million pieces that burned to a crisp the moment he made impact, spraying ash everywhere.

The ice ring, thankfully, saved everyone nearby from the impact, but Izuku knew that he was officially out of commission, and despite his heroics mere moments before, he suddenly found himself feeling very heavy, his eyelids hanging closed for far too long each time he blinked.

 _No…I have to…_

And then his eyes stayed closed.

Midoriya Izuku had passed out.


	8. Chapter 8

**I'll give it to you straight, this chapter is 3000 words of fluff and crying. If you're looking for more plot, you can move on to Chapter 9 whenever it releases, but if you want IzuOcha fluff - hi, hello, this one's for you.**

 **Oh, another note, if you'd care to check out _Fumikage_ , on my page, that would be nice. I'm fond of side characters and I'm planning on writing more.**

 **(...If you like crack fics, perhaps _One For Walrus_ would be more your taste.)**

* * *

 _Ugh._

For the second time in two days, Izuku found himself waking up in a place that wasn't his bed.

He tried to sit up, but there was a heavy weight on his chest that held him down, and, rubbing his eyes, he glanced down to see what it –

"H-hey, Deku-k-kun," Uraraka yawned, and _holy crap what the –_

"Ura-Ur-Ura…"

He couldn't even get the first syllable of her name out without stammering – what had happened!? Why were they – where were they, anyway?

Blinking, groggily, trying to stop his heart from beating its way out of his chest, Izuku glanced around and immediately registered that they were in Uraraka's apartment, on the sofa, where they'd…evidently fallen asleep.

For an instant, his eyes met her half-lidded ones, and, quite suddenly, they were both apologizing frantically.

"Oh, n-no, I'm so sorry, Deku-kun, I just – "

"No, Uraraka-san, i-it's f-fine, I – "

And then, quite suddenly, silence fell, both of them stopping midsentence, staring, breathing, blushing.

 _She's way too close…_

"Uraraka-san," he started, but she interrupted him.

"Deku-kun, I – "

 _Brrring._

And then both of their phones went off at once.

 _Saved by the bell…but from what?_

As he talked to his mother, everything came flooding back. The previous day, after the USJ attack, he'd woken up in – not the hospital _wing_ , but an actual hospital, angry red burns forming lines across his skin. Thankfully, they weren't anything severe, and a visit from Recovery Girl had done the trick (though he'd received quite a scolding for acting in place of a pro!), but before she'd arrived, he'd studied every line, every trace, and realized that, somehow, the bone-shattering power of One For All had been _burned into his skin_ by the heat of Phoenix even through the regeneration process.

"You know, the cleanup crew said there was enough ash there to make ten of you. Just what exactly were you doing?" the Youthful Heroine had asked, and Izuku had shrugged it off with a nervous laugh.

In the day since, it had been announced that a villain had actually _knocked out cell towers_ in Tokyo, resulting in little or no service for a large segment of the city, and Shizuocha wasn't exempt from this. For his mother and Uraraka's parents to have both called their respective children simultaneously, that could only mean they'd been trying for a while and finally gotten through as service was restored.

Thunder rolled in the background, nearly drowning out his mother's next words, but he managed to catch enough to respond with an "I'm okay, mom, really!" before they said their goodbyes and hung up, leaving him to sit awkwardly for the five additional minutes Uraraka spoke with her parents.

He didn't really register that she'd finished her call until she poked him, a little smile on her lips, and his stomach turned over. "What's up?" he asked, trying not to let his nerves show, and she shrugged.

"Um, sorry for fallin' asleep on you, Deku-kun," she muttered, looking at her own foot as she dug one toe into the carpet. "You just looked super comfortable and I sat down and I just – "

"D-don't worry about it," he tried reassuring her, and she met him with a half-smile. "I'm sorry for falling asleep on your couch without asking…"

"Only you would apologize for that!" – and then she was _giggling,_ and he couldn't even feel bad about it anymore. "Besides, you earned a rest after yesterday," Uraraka went on, tone waxing serious, and Izuku met her gaze evenly, trying his best to read the emotions in it. "That was super scary…how'd you even do it?"

"Do what?" he asked, and she tugged at her shorts.

"Um, k-kill that…that _thing._ "

 _Oh. The Noumu._

"…I really killed them, huh?" he murmured, more to himself than anything. He _knew_ it had intended to kill All Might, but even so, it had occurred to him later that that might've been a _person_ under there, and even if it was a lethal, murderous villain, he had never wanted to kill anyone…

Speaking of All Might, he'd received a letter from one Toshinori Yagi – a name he hadn't heard since that night on the beach after the entrance exams, but that he'd remembered nonetheless – telling him that he would be away for a couple of days, and that the incident had exacerbated his existing injuries, but that he'd ultimately be fine, though he might not be able to work as much. Nothing too revealing, but it said everything Izuku needed to know.

All Might was on his way out of the hero business.

 _But…thanks to us, he's not on his way out of the world yet, right…? Even so, was what we did the right thing to do…?_

"They couldn't find anything that didn't get burned up by you or destroyed by Todoroki-kun's ice, so…I guess so." To Izuku, it felt like she was dodging the question, pretending the elephant in the room wasn't sitting right next to her on the sofa, and he clenched his fists; Uraraka, catching on, tried to apologize again, but fat droplets had already splashed across the backs of his hands, down his dark green tee shirt, and suddenly she didn't know what to do anymore.

"Uraraka-san…we were so caught up in trying to be _heroes_ and save All Might and Aizawa-sensei that we…we…" _We killed someone._ _If that was even a person…_

 _What do I even say to that?_ she thought.

Silence reigned for a few more minutes, then, without a word, Uraraka got up and left the room. For a moment, he thought he'd upset her, but she returned not a minute later carrying a pair of mugs on a tray.

"I made some tea earlier," she explained, handing him one. "I left it to brew while you were sleepin', but I ended up dozin' off too." A soft smile crossed her lips as he took both the mug and a sip, sighing with relief as the drink's warmth flooded out the chills running up and down his skin. "It's green tea," she added, needlessly, and he managed to smile back.

"…Thanks, Uraraka-san." Still, the lingering doubt and discomfort wasn't going anywhere, and he stared into the depths of the mug, as if the tea would tell him something he needed to hear (not that he particularly knew what that was). "I just…we've been at Yuuei for two weeks, and so much has changed already. Up until now I haven't been able to believe how lucky I've been…meeting you, getting into Eastern Japan's top hero school, finding a place where I feel like I _belong…_ " He paused, taking another swig of tea, then looked up, green eyes meeting soft hazel across inches, and she let out a soft breath. cradling her mug in both hands. "But everything's been turned upside-down. Are they even gonna let us go back?"

"Of course they are. They're gonna up the security and make the school even safer!"

 _I wish I had your confidence, Uraraka-san._ "It's…I don't know," he sighed. "I can see the news trying their best to turn this into something it isn't. But…no matter what happens…that can't erase what happened." Izuku raised his hands, staring down his palms, his knuckles, his fingers, and trembled. "I can't stop seeing its – _their_ – face…even though it was horrible, even though it was just full of teeth and its eyes were so _empty…_ I can't help thinking…that was someone, once, wasn't it? Nobody has the technology to make something that lifelike…and that guy with the hand on his face, he said it had a Quirk…" He knew his thoughts were coming out broken, but for once, he couldn't even bring himself to worry about the way he expressed himself. "They had a life, and a family, didn't they? Just like me, or you…maybe they wanted to be a hero…"

Uraraka didn't respond immediately, but when he turned to look at her, she hadn't torn her gaze away from him; the only difference from a moment prior was that her eyes now swam with tears, and before he could say anything, she'd put her mug down then leaned in slowly, carefully, deliberately, and wrapped her arms around his neck. He felt droplets splash down across his shoulders – _she's crying, too._

So Midoriya Izuku did the only sensible thing: he hugged her back.

For a long while, they sat there, holding one another, the only sounds Uraraka's periodic sniffles and a cough from Izuku, swaying back and forth on the spot; then she pulled back, but didn't let go, expression unreadable as she looked straight at him.

"Deku-kun – " and he could feel her breath on his lips " – I just…I wanna help you, I do, but I just dunno what to say…I'm sorry. But!" she jumped in, as he opened his mouth, "I know you really look up to All Might, and it's not my place, but it seems like you two are good friends…and I wanna say…I want you to know…if…i-if…"

Her lip quivered, and, swallowing hard, he hugged her just a little tighter, trying to ignore the way his hands slid on the soft fabric of her tank top.

"If it had been you in danger…and…an' I'd been in that position, where I could save you no matter what it took…I'd do the same thing."

A slight _rat-a-tat_ drummed up on the window, filling the silence, and another low rumble of thunder sounded out across the prefecture, electric light dancing through the blinds.

"Uraraka-san…" he breathed, and she smiled, a little watery smile that made his chest ache.

"I think…if you and Todoroki-kun hadn't done anything…that it… _they_ …would have killed all of us without even thinkin'…and it says so, so much about you that you're even thinkin' about this, yeah? You're nothin' like them." A beat, then the smile widened. "Promise."

For a long minute, Izuku stared at her, his heart beating and pounding and thumping all at once, eyes wide and round, trying his best to process the emotions surging through him like a flood – no, a _tsunami._

"Uraraka-san," he finally said again, at length, but she pressed a finger to his lips, turning them both a brilliant shade of scarlet.

"You can c-call me Ochako…I m-mean, it's just us, right?"

 _Holy crap a girl just asked me to call her by her first name and –_

No. It wasn't just because it was a girl who'd done it. Asui Tsuyu had told him, right off, that he could call her Tsu, and he hadn't responded like this at all. No…

It was because _Uraraka_ had asked him to call her by her first name.

Breathing, slow and deep. Steady warmth. Something – some _one_ – to hold onto.

The warmth in him now was almost like the warmth Phoenix provided, but subtly different in a million little ways of which he couldn't identify a single one – he just _knew_ it was different somehow.

And then Uraraka – _Ochako…?_ – accidentally touched the nape of his neck with all of her fingerpads and he ended up on the ceiling.

The moment completely broken, he flailed awkwardly for a moment, while Uraraka leapt up and clasped a hand to her mouth, clearly mortified. "Deku-kun, I'm so sorry! _Release!_ "

He flopped back down onto the sofa, hard, and she settled back down next to him, blushing like the setting sun.

"What time is it?" he asked, abruptly…and redundantly, considering he was already pulling out his phone to check. Seven-nineteen in the evening. "Are you sure you're okay with me hanging around this late?"

"Doesn't bother me at all!" she beamed. "Um, if I'm honest, I was always kinda…plain, y'know? Brown hair, a lil' short, never showed off like the other girls. I had friends, but…it was more like just school friends. We didn't hang out a whole lot outside class. It bothered me, but my mom and dad always told me that I'd make my real friends at Yuuei…"

"You must've wanted to go to Yuuei for a long time, too, huh?"

"Yeah. It's silly, right? A girl whose power lets her make things float."

"B-but we talked about this!" Izuku protested. "You got in, all on your own. That's amazing, Uraraka-sa – um, O-Ochako…?"

Belatedly, he realized he'd screwed up not once but twice; by cutting the appellative off early, he'd accidentally called her _sa_ – or _lover._

Neither of them addressed it, but both of them knew they must be red as tomatoes.

"Ah..ha, um, yeah, I did." She didn't sound totally convinced, but she went on regardless: "My parents, though, they always believed in me. When I got in, my dad told me I was…already his hero." A shy little smile crossed her lips, and she looked down at her lap. "Me, someone's hero…"

"Heroes…aren't always the ones saving the day in the flashiest way they can," Izuku offered. "I know that's what I look up to in All Might, but…even just getting someone's kitten out of a tree…you're their hero."

"Well…um, after that," she went on, and he knew she didn't want to address the topic anymore, "they told me I'd make my real friends here, and…I'm happy to have a real friend over."

 _She means me._

"I'm…happy to be a real friend," he told her, meeting her smile with his own, and she gave a light laugh, a little flustered. "You're the first real friend I've ever had." He'd had the same thought on the bus to the USJ the previous day, but he hadn't told her, and…if he'd been killed, or she'd been killed, she'd have never known… "You have no idea how much it means to me to have a friend like you, Uraraka-san."

She poked him on the nose. "Do you not wanna call me Ochako, Deku-kun?" she teased.

"A-ah, I do, but I – um, habit? I'm sorry!"

Uraraka Ochako burst into real laughter for the first time in a while.

Shortly afterward, Izuku wasn't particularly surprised to learn that – _Ochako!_ he basically had to scream himself into thinking, though he knew it wouldn't work – her favorite type of film was, in fact, the "chick flick".

Not that he particularly minded. He cried right along with her. Izuku had always been an emotional boy.

"I just don't understand!" he bawled into her shoulder, as she rubbed his back soothingly. "Why…why'd he have to go like that!? Just…just when she gets her memory back!"

"Shh, Deku-kun. It's okay."

The storm hadn't let up at all by the time the movie had finished, but neither of them were particularly complaining; even so, Uraraka felt obligated to ask him if his mother was okay with him being out so late.

If he was honest, he felt a little conflicted. For the first time in his life, he was _happy_ with a friend, and while he didn't want to worry his mother, he also didn't particularly want to go home just yet.

Even if it meant chick flicks.

As time nine o'clock rolled around, and Uraraka had broken out her once-a-year ice cream (it was badly freezer-burned but Izuku appreciated the thought), it was clear Uraraka was getting sleepy, and halfway through the second movie, Izuku felt a weight drop onto his shoulder.

Uraraka, with the thin pink blanket she'd been snuggled up in, had finally dozed off.

"U-um…Uraraka-san?" he prompted, and when she didn't respond, he tried again: "O-Ochako-chan?" The subsequent blush was hotter than he could ever remember Phoenix being, but all she did was mumble and cling harder to his arm.

 _Great…_

With a sigh, he resigned himself to his fate as Uraraka's pillow.

* * *

By the time he awoke early the next morning (now not in his own bed for the _third_ time in three days), the now-routine weekend storm had settled to a gray drizzle, blanketing the prefecture in wet gloom. From the looks of it, Uraraka was still asleep, but they'd shifted overnight, and her cheek now pressed to the cotton of his t-shirt, her mouth half open and the corners of her lips twitching.

Despite himself, Izuku realized he was smiling, a sort of fond soft smile – and then she screamed.

"Uraraka-san!? Are you okay?" he yelped, totally unsure how to respond; she jerked awake, eyes wide, staring around like a frightened animal, then faceplanted back into his shoulder, clutching his neck and making some very peculiar choking noises that he recognized as sobbing (having done a fair bit of it himself in his life).

"I – I – Deku-kun, I just – " Whatever it was that had her upset, she couldn't quite say, so he just sat there, rubbing her back the same way she'd done for him the previous evening, letting her cry herself out. By the time she'd finished, his shirt was thirty-four percent wetter, but he didn't particularly mind if it helped Uraraka feel better.

"Ah, um…thanks," she told him at length, looking up, and he gave her a reassuring little Deku smile and she felt herself melt faster than if he'd been using his Quirk.

"Nightmare?" he suggested. A nod.

"I, um…it's stupid." Self-conscious shifting in place.

"I used to get nightmares a lot," he admitted, scratching the back of his head. "My mom would always come to comfort me…but after a while, she suggested maybe I had something on my mind that I was afraid of, that I wasn't letting go of."

"Didja ever figure out what it was? I mean, I guess you did, if you don't get 'em anymore, right?"

Izuku chuckled, a little bitterly, and shrugged. "I always felt kinda useless, so I'd always see the people I cared about getting hurt and I could never do anything about it."

She was surprised; what he'd said really hadn't been too far off the mark… "Um, I just…thought about you getting hit by that thing again," she muttered, pressing her fingertips together and studying her nails. "That first hit…that was super scary. I wasn't thinking about your Quirk saving you…but your entire body just kinda…broke."

 _Oh. That's what this is…_ "I'm sorry. I didn't have much of a choice," he responded, though it didn't help to ease the guilt. The arms around his neck squeezed, and Uraraka raised her head, a frown playing across her lips.

"I'm not blaming you, Deku-kun." Her tone was plain, but there was something about it that struck him nonetheless, in a fashion he couldn't even begin to explain, neither to himself nor Uraraka. "You did whatcha had to do, yeah? It just…that nightmare made me feel so _weak._ Like I couldn't help you at all. And really…what could I do?"

"That's what we're at Yuuei for, right?" he pointed out. "To get stronger. I wanna work out how to control my Quirks, and how to fight with them…you can work out how to fight in a way that lets you use yours to its highest potential!"

For just a moment, her eyes sparkled, and she looked on the verge of a smile…but then she caught on one particular detail of what he'd said. "Your Quirks?"

 _Oh no._

He'd let that one slip without even thinking, and he couldn't even pass it off as a verbal error, considering he'd said _them_ right after. He gaped soundlessly, trying to find the words to explain to her just what exactly he'd said, but to his mixed confusion and relief, her smile broke through the tension and she buried her face in his shoulder again. "You don't have t' tell me anything. Whatever's goin' on with you…s'long as you're the Deku-kun I know, I can live with it."

 _Uraraka-san…wait, no._ "O-Ochako-chan," he breathed, completely flushed, and she giggled.

"Took ya long enough."

"…Thank you."

"For what? Weren't you the one just comfortin' me?"

He just hugged her and started crying all over again.

 _No matter what happens…I'm never going to let go of this feeling._


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi. I'm here. Shit happened. Let's not talk about it.**

 **I'm using this chapter to just ease back into things. My style's a mess.**

 **I would also appreciate if you guys checked out _The Binding of Izuku._ I'm rather fond of it. Vigilante AU but in a different vein from "Izuku is angery he has no quirk and becomes illegal hero".**

* * *

Midoriya Inko was, understandably, a little upset that he'd not called since seven the previous evening, but she also told Izuku (through tears) that she understood that he wanted to be with a friend after what she'd begun calling "that incident".

In retrospect, Izuku was _very_ glad he hadn't told her that the friend in question was a girl.

Not a kilometer away, Uraraka Ochako laid flat on her back in silence, spread out over her bed with one hand clutching at her chest over her heart.

She'd never considered herself the "blushing schoolgirl" type, but wasn't that _exactly_ what Deku had done to her? The thought made her wince, but inside, she felt she could have burst into song for absolutely no reason other than that she was _happy_. For the first time she could really remember, she wasn't lonely – she had friends, actual friends she'd be able to stay with for more than just a year or two! And furthermore, she had _him,_ and he was…what even was he to her? What was _she_ to _him_?

Her head and heart started to hurt, and she took a mental step back. _What's important right now is becomin' a hero, right?_

Back at school, Iida and Yaoyorozu found themselves increasingly swamped by their duties as class representatives, and as such, their friend spent a considerable amount of time with Yaoyorozu, to the point where Ashido Mina began perpetuating a rumor that they'd become a couple, bonding over paperwork and red tape.

This pathogenic spread, to Izuku's mixed relief and guilt, _did_ take some attention off of himself and Uraraka – Uraraka, who he'd caught looking at him several times that week, ever since they'd fallen asleep together on her sofa (and who'd caught him looking more than once, but just the _thought_ of that painted his face red to the point where Tsuyu had asked him if he had a rash).

"Do you think Iida-kun and Yaomomo are actually dating?" she asked him after lunch on Thursday, as they walked back to class, and Izuku blinked stupidly at her for a solid four and a half seconds before his brain registered what she'd said.

"Oh, um, I mean – I don't – maybe?" A shrug. "It's not really our business, though. I know I've said before that a hero's job is to meddle where they don't belong…but I don't think that applies here."

Uraraka giggled. "No, I don't think so. I wouldn't want anyone messin' in _our_ business, either."

 _What!? Is there an us now!? Why would she –_

Then he saw the flyer, and his heart stopped for a moment.

"Hey, Uraraka-san…look at this."

"Huh?"

"There's a flyer…"

She leaned in closer to read it, then whipped around, eyes ablaze with excitement – "Deku-kun! This sounds amazing! We should _totally_ do it!"

"Um, I don't, uh, I don't think – "

"Considering you don't have a choice, it's good to have some enthusiasm about it."

"Aizawa-sensei!?" Izuku shouted, while Uraraka let out a little shriek (in her defense, that hallway had been _empty_ not ten seconds prior!), and Aizawa Shouta cocked his head, surveying them with arms crossed.

"Your reaction time was…passable. Your response time, on the other hand, was exceedingly poor. I expect significant improvement by the date of the festival."

 _Leave it to sensei to be a total mood killer…_

"Um…sorry," Uraraka apologized, and Izuku fought off the bizarre urge to laugh.

"Ah, sensei, what are you doing here, anyway?" he asked, studying the man, and their teacher dipped his head.

"Teachers have to eat lunch too, you know."

 _ **You** eat? I thought you just slept the entire time!_

"Ooh! What do teachers get to eat?" Uraraka gushed, excited, and both Izuku and Aizawa stared blankly at her before their teacher responded, in a deadpan that nearly knocked the poor girl flat.

"Food."

And with that, Eraserhead slipped off down the hallway; when Izuku looked after him, he'd disappeared entirely.

"What a weird guy!" she fumed.

Uraraka pouted all the way back to the classroom.

* * *

The details of the sports festival sent chills down Izuku's spine.

"Wait, we're going to be using our Quirks?" he blurted out, then kicked himself, mentally. _Of course we are! Yuuei's renowned for its heroics program, and like All Might said…you can't be a hero without a Quirk…  
_

The thought alone sent his mood down a couple notches.

Aizawa, on the receiving end of his question, just quirked an eyebrow.

Izuku lowered his head.

The rest of the class wasn't aware of the details of his Quirk, but there were two people he knew besides Aizawa whom he'd either told or who had the brains to figure it out: Uraraka and Bakugou.

Uraraka, of course, he'd told, but Bakugou, who'd known Izuku since they were very small, had most likely figured out from their hero exercises that he wasn't able to properly control his Quirks outside of that single burst of power he was afforded. Izuku also knew that their teacher had his eye on him…which didn't help lessen the pressure.

"Ah, All Might," the next day found him asking the hero, at lunch. "About the sports festival…"

"Yes! I had a feeling you'd ask about that."

"Well…I still can't control One For All. And, um, honestly, I haven't even been trying…I've been too swept up in…well, _everything_ to really think about it. It's really stupid, I know!" he added, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender. "And now the pressure's on, and I don't really have much more than the half a minute I get out of Phoenix…"

"This _is_ a dilemma," All Might acknowledged. "But fear not!"

 _Fear not!? My Quirk makes my limbs break!_

"We'll get you in shape!" Toshinori Yagi declared, and for a moment, he snapped to his muscle form, standing tall with one finger in the air before he coughed and deflated, a trickle of blood running down his jaw from the corner of his mouth. "You'll be fit to fight in no time at all!"

"All Might, I have a month, and my body can't take One For All at full power yet…can we focus on letting me control the power I _can_ use?" Izuku interjected, and All Might blinked.

"Ah! Right. My apologies, young Midoriya. Tell you what – after today's classes, meet me at the forest training zone. Have you been there yet?"

Izuku shook his head.

"Just head left once you reach the urban training area. You can't miss it! Unless you're blind. Once you're there, we'll start working out how best to keep your power in check. Got it?"

"Got it!"

Which was how he ended up on the ground several hours later.

"My apologies, young Midoriya." All Might reached out with one bony hand to help Izuku up; even in spite of his injuries, his sickness, the man was still strong enough to lift him easily from the dirt, and Izuku took a step back, brushing soil from the seat of his jeans. He wasn't sure how, but the punch he'd just "charged" (so to speak; he really couldn't think of a better term for it) had clearly been at one hundred percent, and All Might had intercepted, disrupting his focus with a swift, calculated blow that sent him sprawling.

"I can't figure it out," he huffed. "You keep telling me to keep a visual in my head, but I don't even know what to visualize."

"Think about it," the other pressed. "You have an immense amount of power within you, but you can barely contain that power without breaking."

Izuku stared at his hands – scarred from injuries he'd taken during his training for One For All, but unblemished by the numerous times they'd been broken already. _Are these even my hands anymore?_ _I'm starting to feel like neither of these Quirks are mine…like I'm just borrowing their power._ "I keep thinking of how Kacchan can use his Quirk so easily," he admitted, flexing his fingers. "He just…puts out his hand like it's nothing. If I try to do the same thing with One For All, I just…break."

"…Sit down, young Midoriya."

"Huh?"

"Did I stutter?" All Might asked, but his tone was gentle, his expression kind; awkwardly, Izuku plopped down in the dirt next to his mentor. "Now. You brought up young Bakugou."

"Yeah? What about him?"

"You do not have the same Quirk."

Izuku nodded. _Where is this going?_

"Why are you attempting to model how you use your Quirk after how he uses his?" All Might shrugged one shoulder. "Young Bakugou's Quirk involves exclusively the use of his hands for short bursts. You have the ability to channel your power through any part of your body – to _channel_ it, young Midoriya."

Izuku thought.

He'd spent so much time analyzing _others'_ Quirks that he hadn't once stopped to write down details about his own.

The term _channel_ brought to mind a video game (and he'd played his fair share; what else was a friendless, Quirkless weirdo to do on a winter evening?) – a channeled ability, something you were able to continually use, in contrast to something like Bakugou's Quirk, which was fire-and-forget.

"Are you thinking about this?" All Might cut into his thoughts.

"Ah! Yes, All Might!"

All Might, who moved faster than the human eye could even see…

"Ah, All Might…"

"Hm?"

"…You use One For All throughout your entire body, right?"

"Not all the time, and when I do, it's not usually at one hundred percent. I'd cause more collateral damage than Mt Lady if I did – you saw what one hundred percent was able to do to the Urban Zone during the entrance exam."

 _All this time…I've been firing off One For All like Kacchan uses his explosions…but in reality, I should have been using it like All Might! I've been using my power like a weapon and not as a part of me…_

Izuku got to his feet, and All Might followed suit, a smile blooming on his hollow cheeks.

"Figured something out?" he asked, voice low, and Izuku gave a determined nod.

 _A part of me._

"Then come at me with everything you have! …Figuratively. Please do not break yourself."

 _One For All…I'm sorry, All Might. I've been neglecting the Quirk you gave me. But…no more!_

Focus. It was taking everything he had, and he swayed on his feet, trying his hardest to restrain the power screaming inside of him, to let it become _part_ of him and not simply a weapon…

Then a bird called, his focus broke, and his entire body exploded.

* * *

He figured he hadn't died – Phoenix would have seen to that – but that didn't mean he'd been expecting to pass out the way he had.

"Midoriya-san. I must apologize. This happened under my supervision – "

"But Izuku's okay, isn't he?"

"Well, yes, but – "

"Was it under your instruction?"

"It – "

"It wasn't."

Midoriya Inko and All Might stared at Izuku, who raised his groggy head from the hospital pillow.

"It was my idea," he managed to get out, lifting himself onto his elbows; his mother rushed to help him lay back down, but he resisted, forcing his way through scrambled, foggy thoughts. "All Might offered to help me train my Quirk, and I did something stupid. It's too strong for me to handle fully right now, so I thought I'd ask him how he controls his…and then I wound up using too much of my own. What happened after I blacked out?" he added, shifting his gaze to All Might, and the emaciated man dipped his head.

"Your Quirk's regeneration effect kicked in and, uh, burned down half the training zone."

 _Oh._

"…Sorry about that."

To his surprise, All Might burst out laughing.

"Nothing to be sorry for! It isn't like you could help it, and besides, we keep plenty of staff on hand who can manipulate the training environments using their Quirks. Cementoss gets most of the work, considering how easily the urban zone is damaged and how often it's used, but occasionally we have to drag Pixie-Bob in here on a day off…"

"So the training zone will be okay?"

All Might laughed harder.

"Young Midoriya, you are something else. You pass out and the first thing you worry about is the training zone."

Even Inko had to indulge herself in a wry smile at that one.

Just then, Izuku's phone rang.

"…Izuku? Who is Ochako…?"

 _Oh no._

"Um, uh, it's, uh, one of my…classmates' nicknames! Yeah, that's - "

"I wasn't aware you were so close with young Uraraka," All Might cut in – was his mentor _teasing him!?_ "Then again, you two are always together – "

And there was the blush. Lovely.

" _All Might!_ It's – it's not what – Mom, can I just have the phone? Please?"

In spite of his embarrassment, he had to admit it was a relief seeing his mother's worry dissipate, knowing her son was feeling well enough to be flustered. Trying in vain to hide his cheeks, which by then were little more than freckled tomatoes plastered to his face, he pressed the green _Answer_ button, bringing the phone up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Oh! Izukkun, I was just – "

 _Izukkun!?_

"I'm fine, Uraraka-san! Really!" he blurted out, before she'd even said anything – naturally, she immediately became suspicious.

"What happened?" she sighed; Izuku couldn't see it, but on the other end of the line, she was already smiling fondly and hating herself for it.

"I uh, there was an accident while I was training. But it's okay, I promise! I'll be out of the hospital in no time."

"You're in the _hospital?_ "

"Young Midoriya, I do not mean to offend you, but you are terrible at keeping people in the dark."

Izuku was tempted to use One For All just to knock himself out and save himself from the embarrassment.

* * *

He was discharged the next morning. Considering his injuries hadn't been injuries at all, merely exhaustion (evidently, Phoenix had drained all of his energy to repair his entire body), he counted himself lucky, but faced the day with his jaw set and his heart heavy.

Saturday. _I can't train at school…so where can I go that'll be safe from my Quirk if anything goes wrong? What can I do to make sure I don't break my focus?_

The answer came surprisingly quickly.

Dagobah Municipal Beach was, to Izuku's disgust, already gathering trash again. _You'd think after actually being able to_ use _the beach, people would be a little more careful with it,_ he thought, bitterly, staring down a broken refrigerator, one of several appliances that had been haphazardly dumped across the sand; with an irritable grunt, he grabbed the base and tugged, pulling it through the rough grains underfoot toward the edge of the beach; by the time he'd gotten it as far from the middle as he could, he was even more irritated – it was true that it was a hero's job to meddle where they didn't belong, and that the most heroic deeds typically went unsung, but why on earth should he have to keep cleaning up garbage when the people causing the problem got off without even a slap on the wrist…?

With a sigh, he shook the thoughts - a hero shouldn't complain, after all _._ He shifted his entire focus to his task, bending down to pull the battered washing machine backwards, digging his heels into the sand, straining himself…

Green lightning crackled down his arms, his legs, his torso, and he stopped.

 _Was that…?_

Izuku glanced around. He was alone. Unless someone was hiding, that hadn't been anyone else's Quirk.

Turning his attention back to the washing machine, he tried again, pulling with all his might, throwing himself into the task with abandon – _this is my duty as a hero! It isn't the flashiest job, but…isn't this power to help people? And don't the little things count just as much as fighting villains and pulling people from burning buildings…?_

Izuku didn't realize he'd thrown the washing machine until it slammed against the refrigerator with a resounding _bang_ , spraying loose bolts across the sand.

"That's a far cry from yesterday!"

"What the – "

" _I am here!"_ All Might declared, his muscle form giving an exaggerated salute before shrinking back into his normal form. "I had a feeling I'd find you here. You're not one to sit idly by, my boy."

In spite of himself, Izuku smiled a little. "Yeah. I thought Phoenix would do the least damage to a beach if it went off by accident…and enough people come by here regularly now that I figured someone would find me if I passed out again."

"Looks to me like those precautions weren't necessary."

"No, but…better safe than sorry, right?"

"Correct. I'm impressed, Midoriya my boy." _Midoriya my boy._ It was almost like a nickname at this point, spoken without pause in one smooth phrase. "I'm also impressed that you took it upon yourself to clean up a mess that isn't yours for no benefit of your own."

Definitely smiling now, Izuku gave his shoes a bashful glance, scratching at the back of his head. "Well…that's what heroes do, right?"

"…That's what we do." Whatever weight lay behind those words evidently wasn't for Izuku to know, and after a moment, the hero cleared his throat. "How about you try moving the dryer next?"

By the time the sun set, however, Izuku hadn't quite managed to replicate his throw; here and there, green sparks would shoot down his arms, or up his legs, but sometimes it would hurt, and he'd stop, or he'd get excited, and the power would dissipate.

"Don't lose heart, my boy. Do you think I understood One For All right off the bat?"

"Yes."

"…You're not wrong. I'm sorry I don't have any more advice to give you."

"It's okay, All Might. I might have had help, but I've gotten this far. I'll figure it out." Still, his smile slipped away the moment his mentor's gaze drifted elsewhere, and they walked in silence back to Izuku's front door, All Might letting him go with a parting wave before shifting into muscle form long enough to make a tremendous leap up, up and away, disappearing into the distance with a _boom_ like thunder.

"Izuku, what's wrong?" his mother asked at dinner, later that evening, but Izuku just stared into his _katsudon_ , poking at it with his fork.

How was he supposed to tell his mother that he had less than a month to control two dangerous Quirks that could level city blocks and kill him?

Hell, how was he supposed to tell _himself_ that?

 _What if I just flunk out of the festival on purpose?_

He thought of the expression on All Might's face – his chosen successor, ignoring the wide-open door to a bright future.

He thought of Aizawa's disappointment in him – the person that Aizawa Shouta, notorious for expelling twenty students the year prior, had given a chance at Yuuei.

He thought of his mother's smile, sad but with that finality behind it that said _I expected this._

He thought of Ochako.

The fork plunged into a piece of his _katsudon_ and brought it to his mouth, Izuku practically tearing it off the steel tines like an animal.

"Izuku…?"

"I'm fine, Mom."

He wasn't fine.

 _But I will be._


	10. Chapter 10

**lmao why do I write this**

 **also: in the anime Iida refers to Ochako as "Uraarararakakakun" because Iida so I'll shorten that to something that makes sense. and Tsu calls everyone "-chan". because Tsu.**

 **I've also noticed Chapter 7 of this fic is absolute and utter garbage, so expect a rewrite of that sometime in the future.**

* * *

Sunday afternoon. Sunny, cheerful. Cumulus clouds.

"Hey, Deku-kun, what're we waitin' on?"

It wasn't something he'd usually do, but Izuku had actually agreed to take a day off.

The past week, he'd been making small but significant steps towards controlling One For All; he still couldn't harness its power at will, but he'd thrown a couple more washing machines, which he supposed was a start. (All Might, overseeing him, had given a front-page thumbs-up and smile, declaring: "A clean start!" – to which Izuku couldn't help but smile a little, even if it was a terrible pun on multiple levels… perhaps _because_ it was a terrible pun on multiple levels).

Uraraka, wearing blindingly pink short-shorts and a white tank top with sandals, plopped down on the bench next to Izuku, eating a popsicle. "Deku-kun? Anyone home?"

"Oh! So, um, I asked a couple more people to come along with us. I, uh, I really should have asked you. I'm sorry, Uraraka-san."

 _Oh…_

She'd really been looking forward to spending some time together, just the two of them, but she supposed that she couldn't always have that; Izuku _did_ have other friends, after all.

She was a little surprised, however, to see that those "other friends" included not only Iida and Todoroki (who had softened somewhat towards Izuku after the USJ incident), but Yaoyorozu and Tsuyu – _at least I won't be the only girl,_ she thought, but Izuku and Tsuyu weren't particularly close, so why…?

"I uh, I know you and Tsu are good friends, so I thought I'd ask her to come along, too – I didn't know if you'd get uncomfortable being the only girl! I wasn't expecting Yaoyorozu-san, though…"

Even disappointed, she couldn't help but marvel at the fact that he'd thought of her comfort as a girl.

"Midoriya." Todoroki raised one hand in greeting.

"Midoriya-kun! Uraraka-kun!" Iida blurted, nearly smacking Todoroki upside the head with his usual frenetic hand gestures, and Yaoyorozu couldn't help a giggle as Todoroki blinked at the karate chop that almost met the tip of his nose.

"Hey, you two," Tsuyu croaked, and Yaoyorozu bowed next to her, suddenly formal.

"I'm sorry if my presence is unwelcome. Iida-kun asked me if I would like to come, and I - "

"No, no! It's fine!" Izuku rushed to reassure her. "Really! I don't mind at all! Do you, Och – Uraraka-san?"

"Nope!" she chirped around the popsicle, and Yaoyorozu gave a little smile. "You're fine, Momo-san!"

"Nice shirt, Midoriya-chan," Tsuyu snickered.

"Oh, um, thanks." Izuku had to glance down to remind himself that he'd worn out _dress shirt_ that day – that was, a t-shirt that simply _said_ "dress shirt" on it. (Truly, Midoriya Izuku was a paragon of class and style.)

"Where are we going?" Todoroki asked him as Izuku rose from the bench and led the way down the street; behind them, Uraraka had fallen into step with Tsuyu, and Iida and Yaoyorozu walked to their right.

"It's a day off, right? So…we could go anywhere!"

"You didn't have a plan?"

"No," Izuku admitted. "I figured we could just – "

" _Midoriya-kun! It is highly irresponsible to venture into uncharted territories with no plan in mind!"_ Iida erupted, and Izuku stiffened, letting out a tiny "eep".

"Iida-kun, it's not uncharted territory. It's Tokyo," Uraraka pointed out mildly. Tsuyu snickered.

"Is this what they call 'hanging out'?" Todoroki asked from his left, voice quiet, gaze distant. Izuku forced himself to relax.

"Yeah. I haven't done much of it either," he shrugged, lowering his voice to match Todoroki's. "I spent most of my time by myself before coming to Yuuei. Uraraka-san was the first friend I really had."

"Hm. I can't say I've ever done this myself."

"You haven't?" Izuku was surprised – aloof, mysterious Todoroki, with his flashy Quirk and looks, hadn't gone out with friends before…?

"No. I don't see the point in spending time with people."

 _Aaand I have absolutely no idea what to say to that._

At length, he thought of something. "Wait, so why did you come?" he asked.

Todoroki didn't respond. Izuku pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Puppies!" Yaoyorozu burst out, formal demeanor falling away in a heartbeat; sure enough, there was a pet shop across the street, the window full of small dogs in plush, spotless cages. Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku noticed Todoroki had thawed enough to let a small smile slip past, and they crossed the road to go pet them – _guess even Todoroki-kun is weak to puppies._

"They're cute, _kero._ But my parents won't let us have pets. It might be because my brother tried to eat his hamster, _kero._ "

" _Tried?_ "

"Preserve your innocence, Ochako-chan."

"Gently, Iida-kun!" Izuku warned his friend. "It's a puppy, not paperwork."

"Ah! This is gentle, is it not!?"

"No! You don't hold puppies like that! Here, you gotta – "

Meanwhile, on the other side of the crates from Uraraka's horrified stare and Iida's frantic attempts to be gentle, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu had been allowed a puppy to themselves.

"Um, Todoroki-san…" Yaoyorozu started, not meeting his eyes.

"Hm?"

"Have you ever had a pet before?"

"No."

When he didn't elaborate, she glanced up, prodding: "May I ask why?"

"My father thought they were a waste of time."

"Oh…my parents thought so, too." Unsure of what else to say, Yaoyorozu diverted her gaze to the puppy, which had taken an incredible interest in sniffing Todoroki's kneecap for no apparent reason.

Silence, for a moment. Then –

"May I ask why?"

When she looked up at him, he was almost smiling.

* * *

They stopped at a noodle stand for lunch when it became apparent that none of them had eaten anything, excluding Uraraka's popsicle earlier that day.

"Ooh!" the girl in question gushed, seeing the menu; she took her face in her hands, eyes wide, smile wider, and looked about ready to hop out of her skin with excitement. "They – have – _udon!_ "

When Todoroki received his order, he took it in his right hand and froze the bowl, cooling the noodles to room temperature as Iida frantically puffed on his own; the other four sat politely and watched as Todoroki munched on his _soba_ , oblivious to Iida's antics. By the time Izuku's own food had cooled, and the others had started eating, Todoroki had already finished, while Iida was still struggling through a bite that was evidently a little too hot for him.

Izuku handed Iida his drink, expression carefully solemn.

"Ahh…thank you, Midoriya-kun. My apologies."

"Hey." Yaoyorozu, who'd been quiet until then, grabbed their attention. "Check out the television. I think something's up."

As one, the other five glanced up at one of the televisions on poles that jutted up at intervals around the food court; they couldn't hear what was being said, but it was more than a little obvious that something was wrong.

"Is that Yokosuka…?" Iida murmured.

"That's what the banner says," Todoroki pointed out.

"How…?" Even the usually stoic Tsuyu's eyes had gone round with shock.

The footage from the news helicopter displayed what had clearly been a city at some point, but which had fallen victim to some horrific disaster that had split the city in two with a colossal fissure which forked off in a dozen different directions, shattering streets and breaking apart buildings; there was no way to tell just how deep the fissure ran, because it had filled to the brim with seawater.

" _As of yet, there is no concrete casualty count, but rumors estimate between one and two hundred dead, with at least a thousand injured – "_

Izuku stood up, scraping his seat back, but what it was he intended to do, none of them knew – not even Izuku himself, who could only stare in hurt disbelief. _How could something like this happen…? Where are the heroes!?_

" _This comes in the wake of a similar incident in Futtsu, which has left pro heroes all across Japan struggling to respond…"_

"Futtsu is directly across the channel from Yokosuba," Yaoyorozu mused. "Maybe it was the same fissure…?"

"A fissure that stretches across the entire channel?" Tsuyu responded. "I don't think I've ever heard of anything like that, _kero._ "

"That doesn't mean it's impossible," Todoroki cut in, eyes still trained on the screen, gaze impassive. For a moment, Izuku couldn't believe how _calm_ he seemed – then he spotted Todoroki's hand, under the table next to where Izuku stood. Clenched into a fist.

 _So it's like that…_

"…Hey, Deku-kun?" Uraraka tugged at his shorts leg, and he jumped. "Um, could you sit…?"

"Uh, sure, Uraraka-san." The second he pulled his chair in and lowered himself into it, he felt her warm hand clasp his own, fingers intertwining, and he gave it a squeeze. She squeezed back.

"Y'know, I used to just wanna be a hero to help my parents with money…but seeing this…not being able to help…"

"Yeah…"

"We just gotta work harder so we can help people sooner!" she declared, eyes burning, fingers cutting off the circulation to Izuku's hand. There was no fierce smile on her face – just something between grief and anger, something that hurt him even more than her iron grip.

"Um, well, yes, Uraraka-san," Yaoyorozu responded, awkwardly. "But we can't do anything right now…and this is _horrible…_ "

She wrung her hands, anxious. Iida gave her an awkward pat on the shoulder.

The news put a definite damper on the mood, and after just an hour, the six of them agreed to head home and meet up again some other time (even Todoroki, who gave a shrug before walking away without so much as a goodbye). As usual, Izuku and Uraraka headed home together, though the atmosphere was subdued, devoid of the brunette's usual chatter; she walked in silence, watching her feet cross the pavement until they turned on the street to her apartment. By then, dusk had settled, and clouds massed overhead, threatening rain once more.

"Guess I couldn't really hide it around you, huh, Deku-kun?"

"…Uraraka-san?"

Her voice was hoarse, tight, like she'd been choking back tears, and she'd stopped walking, finally looking up at him. Eyes glistening, lip quivering.

"Uraraka-san?" he repeated, twisting sideways to look back at her, a couple of paces behind. "What's – "

"My parents are working in Yokosuba right now."

His veins froze faster than Todoroki's _soba._

" _My parents are working in Yokosuba right now."_

Her words echoed in his head, over and over. Somewhere, a bird screamed, a cicada gave its shaky call, but Izuku couldn't hear them, just Uraraka, stuck on a loop like a broken record.

" _My parents are working in – "_

The first tear slid down her cheek as she tried to smile. Izuku stood paralyzed. His legs wouldn't move. His arms stayed at his sides.

"I'm okay, Deku-kun. Don't worry 'bout me."

 _Move! Move!_ he screamed at his body, but it wouldn't – hell, maybe it couldn't.

"Jus'…focus on gettin' stronger with me, 'kay?" She took a step towards him and reached up to wipe something off of his cheek, but the look on her face changed to shock as her thumb came away dark red and Izuku flinched as if stung. "Hey, you're bleeding…"

 _What!?_

"Hmm. So they didn't erase it permanently."

Izuku tried to turn this time, he really did, but he succeeded only in stumbling and falling painfully on his hip – and that was when he realized that his paralysis was more than mental shock from the news Uraraka had just given him.

 _That voice…_

"Your blood is type O. Sorry, but I'll have to test this on the girl, too. I must make sure my Quirk is in working order."

 _What is he talking about!?_

The hedge lining the pavement rustled and four spidery limbs extracted an equally spidery man, his face wrapped entirely in bandages. Sheathes of knives and various blades ranging from traditional _katana_ to curved swords Izuku had never even seen pictures of hung across his hips, were strapped to his legs, clung to his back, and in his hand was a single long, gleaming knife like a dagger, the edge coated almost _cleanly_ in blood _– Izuku's_ blood. _It has to be…_

"This will only sting for a minute, then I'll leave you be." The man's voice rattled like dead leaves in autumn, and the blood in Izuku's veins thawed then froze again for entirely different reasons than what Uraraka had just told him. "I do not enjoy needless bloodshed."

He couldn't even move as, like lightning, a flicker of silver blossomed into scarlet on his best friend's cheek, and she gave a shriek of – pain? surprise? he didn't know, but it didn't matter; Uraraka was hurt, and _he just laid there._

"Uraraka-san!" he half-screamed, half-shouted; she instinctively reached up to clutch at the gash across her cheekbone, recoiling from her own touch, and the sight was enough to –

"Hm. Even for type O, that didn't last long. Did they damage it?" The man, now standing on Uraraka's other side, surveyed him with renewed interest as Izuku fought his way to his feet; his limbs were still stiff, his joints still screamed, his whole body shook with the effort – but green sparks shot up and down his arms, his legs, and against himself, against whatever had him pinned down, Midoriya Izuku stood, just as the man's freakishly long tongue swiped across the knife in his hand and Uraraka Ochako staggered and collapsed to the pavement.

 _Is that his Quirk? He tastes blood and…paralyzes people?_ _Is that why I couldn't move back there?_

"…Ah. I see. I thought I tasted something different in your blood." Yet again, that same blood thawed and refroze, this time because the man had replaced his knife in its sheath and replaced the weapon in his hand with a much, much larger blade, but he grit his teeth, fighting against the paralysis, the fear, and clenched one fist, swallowing hard as he brought it up to eye level. "Tell me. Are you trying to become a hero?"

"Deku-kun, _no!_ He said he'd leave us be!" Uraraka shouted from the ground.

" _No,_ Uraraka-san. We can't just run away from a villain like this!" Izuku lowered his hand enough to look their assailant in the eyes, voice low as he went on: "What happens if we let him go and he goes on to kill someone?

He was cold, in the heat; terrified, in the face of his courage. Maybe it was stupid – maybe it was pointless – maybe he'd die.

 _No. If I die, I'll just come back stronger, and that'll be enough to win the fight…at least, I hope so. But Uraraka-san…Ochako…she's not trained for combat, and her Quirk doesn't help her here…and I don't want her getting hurt. Still, maybe I can figure out a way to get him to her without putting her in danger, so she can at least touch him once…?_

"You know," and the man's tone was casual, conversational, even as he flicked his wrist and a fat steel bullet of a knife whizzed towards Izuku, who managed to dodge it with a quick right lean – "I really hate these so-called heroes."

"Of course you do! You're a villain, aren't you?" Izuku shouted back. Whether it was One For All, or some side effect of Phoenix, or maybe just the man's Quirk wearing off, he could feel the stiffness fading from his limbs now, and he flexed his fingers; clearly, the other was waiting for him to make the first move, so what could he do…?

" _Young Midoriya, I believe that what you can safely exert now is roughly five percent of what your body can handle at the moment, but that is barely a fraction of One For All's true power."_

"… _Wait, so even when I went one hundred percent…?"_

" _That was not your one hundred percent, no. Even so, this five percent should be enough to help you move faster, hit harder, and truly come into your own as a hero in training for your first year."_

 _So this…this is what I can do for now. More than my throw during the Quirk assessments…is it enough?_

"They aren't in it for being _heroes._ That is not a title they deserve, nor one they should take."

"What are you talking about?"

Cold red eyes met warm green ones. "How many pro heroes do you see who are in it for the people they save? How many do you see who simply want fame or money? Or to show off?"

"I – " and he finished the sentence in his head with _can't answer that._ Instead, he took a moment to count the heroes he truly felt were in it to be _heroes_ , and not just working a job: All Might, Thirteen, Aizawa (even though he seemed disdainful about his chosen profession, there was no doubt that the man had thrown himself into impossible odds for their sakes; the scars on his face served testament for that much).

"Exactly. It's my job to purge the false heroes from this society. One by one, I will pick them off until none remain – and perhaps then we will live in a truly heroic world."

"That's…that's sick!" he spat, and to his surprise, their attacker sighed.

"It is a necessary evil. Like I said, I do not enjoy needless bloodshed, and only kill when and where it must be done."

Izuku wasn't aware he'd leapt until his feet had left the ground. His fist connected with the side of the man's flattened face in the space of a fraction of a second; he felt bones shift, but the man swayed with the impact, and nothing broke, instead leaving Izuku to shoot past him in a blur of green light; he skidded on the street, sneakers putting off a fine trail of acrid rubber smoke.

"Hm. Predictable, but I'll give you this, you're fast." – and then the man had performed some sort of reverse handspring that put him behind Izuku, and it was only One For All that saved him from being impaled on the business end of a _katana_ , throwing himself forward to roll awkwardly across the pavement, scraping his elbows.

" _Stop it!"_

He'd never heard Uraraka scream, but the sound stopped him dead in his tracks. Sirens wailed in the distance.

" _Izukkun, don't you go joining my parents!"_

"Izukkun?" The man in front of him laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Ah. Is that what you're fighting for, then?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I – "

The other pointed to Uraraka, prone on the sidewalk.

"You're fighting to protect her…but not yourself."

"Of course I am! Uraraka-san is my best friend! Why would I let you hurt her and get away with it!?"

The sirens grew closer, and the man glanced up, looked around, then turned back to Izuku.

"Hm. You interest me." With a curt nod, their attacker sheathed the blade he held, then looked Izuku fully in the face. "I will let you live, but do not expect such leniency if we should cross paths again."

"Wait a second – what are you - !?"

"Oh. And one last word of advice."

Izuku stared.

"You would do well not to become like these other so-called 'heroes'."

A couple of blocks away, red-and-blue light flashed across the sides of houses, and with one final nod – perhaps it was even his attempt at a bow? – the man turned and sprang for the side of a house, scrambling up onto the roof before taking off between houses at an inhuman speed; for a moment, Izuku felt as if he were watching a scene straight out of a comic book instead of a real person.

 _His Quirk was the paralysis effect…so what was that? Is he just that fast!?_

"…Deku-kun…"

 _Uraraka-san._

Straightening, he flat-out ran back over to the girl still lying on the concrete, a smear of her blood staining it where her cheek must have hit the ground. "Hey. Hey! Are you okay? Can you move?"

"…I'm…fine. But I'm still stuck like this. I'm…I'm sorry, Izuku."

"What are you apologizing for, Ura – Ochako?"

"I couldn't help at all…"

"…Ochako, he was too fast for us. We aren't strong enough to deal with someone like him yet. Even if you'd been able to try and help, I don't think either of us would have gotten anywhere, even together."

 _Pat. Pat. Pat pat pat._

Raindrops, splashing on asphalt.

Teardrops, splashing on concrete.

"When we pulled that trial off against Iida-kun and B-Bakugou," she started, her lip quivering, "I…I really thought I might be able to make it as a hero, y'know? But then…but…there was the mall, and I felt helpless…there was the USJ, where I couldn't do anything but help Aizawa-sensei away from that…that _thing_ you and Todoroki-kun killed. And now – my…my parents. I don't even know if they're _alive._ And there's nothing I can – there's nothing _any_ of us can do!"

Gently, Izuku took the hem of his shirt and blotted the tears from the corners of her eyes. When she blinked, what remained splashed over, trickling down her face and mixing with the few raindrops that had settled on her skin.

"I'm useless, Izukkun."

If she'd kept crying, if she'd kept despairing, if she'd kept _hoping_ – even if those hopes were dashed to a million pieces a million times, even if no fruit ever came to bear – it would have been one thing, but what broke his resolve, his silence, his shyness, was the way she smiled.

 _I accept this,_ it said. _I accept my fate._

"No."

"Huh?"

"I said _no_ , damnit!"

"Izu – "

He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her up and in, trapping Uraraka in a tight hug. "You're not useless! You were never useless! You don't get to just give up like that, Ochako!" he almost screamed into her shoulder, her hair, staring unseeing at the grey stone behind her; on his face, his own tears and the rain became one and the same. "My mother always told me," he went on, voice lower, "that if you can help just one person in this world, you aren't useless, and you were never useless. And you – you helped _me_. Didn't I tell you I'd never had a real friend before? It's because of you I haven't felt lonely. It's because of you I've gotten to see the world outside on our days off. That alone means you're not useless, no matter how you might feel about it!"

"But – "

"And no matter what's happened to your parents – do you think you were ever useless to them?"

" _It's funny."_

" _What is?"_

 _Her smile poured down into the river, toes dangling in the water. "I always wanted to do somethin' for my parents, but they told me the most I can do for them is follow my own dreams and be happy. Every time I call 'em, my dad…he sounds so happy to hear what I've been up to. Like I'm gettin' to do somethin' both of us have always wanted."_

"We're inexperienced now. We don't know anything about the world. Of course we're going to flounder for a while. Ochako, my Quirk would literally have killed me by now if it weren't for Phoenix," he went on; she was so distraught that she didn't even notice that he'd let the true nature of his Quirks slip yet again. "Do you think I know what I'm doing either? Everything I've done has just been luck. I wanna be useful just as much as you do – and that's why I never give up! You shouldn't give up either! Your parents believe in you! _I_ believe in you!"

 _Stars, raining their cold light down on a silent world._

" _My mom and I used to count stars every night. We never did finish counting," Izuku chuckled. "I guess there were just too many of them to count before my bedtime."_

" _I used to get to look through my parents' telescope on Friday nights if I did good in school," recalled Ochako, a fond smile creeping to her lips. "I think that might've had something to do with why I ended up liking Thirteen so much. The Space Hero, y'know? It fit. My mom used to tell me that the stars were just waiting for me to jump up and catch 'em. It's silly, I know, but I used to jump up and try to grab one when I'd play on the grass. I never caught one, but I did catch a few lightning bugs. I would put them in a jar and pretend they were twinkling in sync with the sky."_

" _Maybe they were."_

 _No,_ Izuku thought. _It's not the fireflies who are twinkling like the night sky anymore._

"Look at me," he murmured. "Can you look at me?"

"Yeah. I think I can," she sniffed, and there on the ground, they stared at one another, the tips of their noses nearly touching, the rain hammering around them, blood running its sluggish marathon down their faces; everything that had just happened paled in comparison to the fact that for the first time in his life, Midoriya Izuku was opening up to someone.

"I didn't even realize it myself until that man said it," he continued, voice low. "But he was right, you know."

"What…?"

"I keep acting to protect you…and that's not exactly a bad thing, but…if I go on protecting you all the time, I'm never gonna give you any room to grow. I want to protect you. But I know you want to be a hero, too, and that means you have to walk next to me, okay? Not behind me."

"I…"

"Your name," he said, suddenly. "The kanji. You read it as _Uraraka_ , but the _ka_ at the end can also be read as _bi_ …and then your first name starts with _cha_ …"

"What…?"

"Maybe I'm just being stupid, but you've even got a built-in hero name. _Cha_ in English is _tea_. Your Quirk is called Zero Gravity and pronounced in English, right? So…your name. _Ura…bi…tea?_ Uravity. Uraraka and Gravity, too." He chanced a smile.

Uraraka stared at him so long he started to wonder if he'd said something particularly outlandish, then, having apparently regained the use of her arms, clutched herself so hard to his chest that he thought she might have cracked one of his ribs.

It took him a moment to realize the way she moved was the force of her sobs, and until the police arrived – called by someone in a nearby house, undoubtedly – they laid there upon the rain-slicked sidewalk, Izuku stroking her hair, Uraraka clinging to his chest like her life depended on it.

 _And just then…maybe it did._

* * *

After a moment's silence, Tokoyami spoke. "…It sounds like you came face-to-face with the Hero Killer."

"What!?"

" _The_ hero killer?" Kaminari cut in. "The one who's already killed, like, ten pro heroes?"

"Yes. His villain name is _Stain._ "

"Whoa! That's so _cool!_ "

"It's not cool at all, dumbass!" Jirou snapped. "What if they'd been killed!?"

"Yeah, but they weren't, so it's awesome, right?"

"Idiot…"

Izuku scratched the back of his head in discomfort. He wasn't fond of being the center of attention, but that day, he and Uraraka had been swarmed by their classmates minus Bakugou; even Todoroki had stood at the edge of the group, giving Izuku a _look_ that he couldn't quite interpret. Beside him, Uraraka herself – the cut on her face mysteriously healed, though Izuku suspected it had been his tears again, considering his own cut had needed stitches – fidgeted awkwardly, clearly not keen on addressing the subject.

He thought back to what she'd told him yesterday evening.

 _She has no idea if her parents are alive…if it had been Mom in Yokosuba, I don't know what I'd do. But she came to school anyway…_

"Hmph. I see none of you have learned how to behave rationally yet."

This was Aizawa's way of announcing his arrival, and he no longer needed to tell them to sit down for the class to immediately disperse back to their seats.

"Now. I have one important announcement today before we begin. Until further notice, we will be performing weekly disaster drills, starting today."

"What? Why?" Kirishima blurted out.

"Does this have anything to do with the incidents in Yokosuba and Futtsu?" Yaoyorozu opted for a more sophisticated approach.

"Correct, Yaoyorozu. It is suspected that the fissure in question was the result of a villain with a particularly powerful Quirk."

 _More villains?_ Izuku wondered. _There seem to be an awful lot of them lately…_

"A _Quirk_ did that?" Sero called out.

"The only Quirk I've ever seen affect the earth itself is when All Might changed the weather with just a punch…" Shouji mused.

"This particular Quirk is known as 'Cataclysm', and until further details emerge, the villain using it will be referred to as such. Furthermore, I am obligated to warn you not to wander outside of populated areas at night, for – as Midoriya and Uraraka had the misfortune to experience firsthand – the Hero Killer Stain has been sighted across Tokyo. His current kill count stands at twelve pro heroes. I must advise you not to engage him if spotted. You will not stand a chance. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Aizawa-sensei," the class replied, as one, and their teacher stared out at them for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh like a gust of wind, shuffling the papers on his desk and pulling one from the middle of the pile.

"Alright. For the first drill…"

* * *

"Jeez. Is this gonna be a daily thing?" Kirishima grumbled at lunch later, and Izuku glanced up from his sandwich in time to see Bakugou jab the redhead in the shoulder.

"Maybe if you'd pay attention once in a while, you'd know!"

"Hey, you don't gotta be so mean. That's not too manly of you."

" _I'll be as mean as I damn well want!"_

"It's strange to see Kacchan getting along with someone as well as he is with Kirishima-kun," Izuku observed, and Iida fixed him with a baffled stare.

"You call that 'getting along with someone'?" the vice-president asked, blinking carefully.

"Ah, um, yeah. Kacchan hasn't hit him with an explosion yet, so that's a good sign."

"If that's what he's like when he's being nice, I'd hate to see him being mean," pouted Ashido, poking at her own lunch with a chopstick before popping some rice into her mouth and turning to Uraraka, chewing. "…Hey, you okay, 'chako-chan? You 'aven't touched your rice."

"Oh! Um, yeah, I'm fine." Uraraka smiled, but the moment the pink-skinned girl looked away, satisfied, her gaze slid out of focus and the smile evaporated.

Izuku knew what was on her mind.

He just wished he knew what to _do_ about it.

The opportunity to do something, however, presented itself rather quickly; after school, they made their way home as usual, and she clearly no longer felt the need to wear her mask around him, for the moment they left the school grounds, Uraraka let out a long sigh and hung her head, trailing after Izuku as he set a brisk pace for the train station.

When it became apparent she didn't plan on catching up, he slowed to a stop, listening to the shuffle of her shoes as she took dragging steps along her own path. "Uraraka-san…you're walking behind me."

"…Oh. Oh! Sorry, Deku-kun, I just – "

As she drew level with him, Izuku reached out and took her hand, not looking at her.

"It's okay to be worried, Uraraka-san," he went on. "But…please don't pretend things are okay if they aren't."

Izuku knew he was blushing, but it didn't matter. He knew the way she twined her fingers with his sent red racing like fire up his face, but he couldn't let that distract him.

"Uraraka-san…I've never really lost anyone close to me like that," he admitted. "So…I can't say I understand how it feels at all. But…there's still a chance they're alive, right? We just have to hope you get a call soon."

"Izukkun, it's been over a day now…how long am I supposed to wait?"

"They could still be getting rescued, or in the hospital with no way to call you," he suggested. "Where were they working? We might be able to find out if they were in any danger if we check on the satellite maps."

"Um…I don't remember, exactly. But I guess we can look at the map if you think it's a good idea." She still didn't sound convinced, but it was better than the choking silence they'd just been walking in, and as they strolled along, still holding hands, a thought popped into Izuku's head.

"Hey, why don't you come over to my house instead? You can stay for dinner if you want. My mom would be thrilled to meet you, too."

"…Do you think that's a good idea? Won't she be annoyed at having to cook for someone else, too?"

"No, Mom's not like that at all. She'll be really happy I have a friend to bring over."

"Nobody's expecting me at my apartment, anyway. I guess I can come in for a little while."

Quiet fell, warmer than before, more comfortable.

"…Hey, Izukkun?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"Just…thank you. For being you. I'm glad I caught you on the day of the entrance exam. If you'd have knocked yourself out, we wouldn't be here right now."

In spite of the solemn atmosphere, Izuku felt a little smile break out onto his lips. "Yeah. I'm glad, too."

She squeezed his hand. He squeezed back.

"It's gonna be okay, Ochako," he blurted out on a whim, and she gave him a look he couldn't quite interpret.

"…I trust you, Izukkun.

"I always have."

* * *

 **god this chapter is actual trash please don't hurt me im sorry i did this im probably taking another break after this to collect my stupid brain thoughts**


	11. Chapter 11

**The scene with the lock is based off of my porch door, which behaves identically. Some doors are just made like shit.**

 **Same with the washcloth. I dunno about you guys, but that always worked for me when I was a kid – at least, it helped.**

 **Apologies for misspelling "Yokosuka" as "Yokosuba".**

* * *

Three beeps, rising in pitch.

" _We're sorry, but the number you have reached is – "_

 _Slam._

She buried her face in her hands and screamed.

* * *

"Whoa, when did Midoriya-kun get so fast?"

Sero Hanta couldn't _see_ fast enough to figure out where Izuku was until the other smashed into the backs of his knees, knocking him clean off his feet; with one sweeping throw, Izuku spun and hurled Sero out of the ring, straightening as the emerald sparks crackling up his arms dissipated into nothing.

"…And the winner is Midoriya." Aizawa Shouta sounded nothing short of impossibly bored as he announced Izuku's (admittedly unexpected) victory. Sero, dazed, let Ashido help him to his feet as Satou stepped up to face off against…Izuku.

"Wait, why am I going again?" Izuku asked, concerned; Satou Rikido was a far stronger opponent than Sero, and though his intelligence was considerably handicapped while using his Quirk, Izuku wasn't exactly sure how well his newfound power would match up to Satou's strength – that, and nobody had gone twice in a row as of yet. They'd spent their hero training period sparring in preparation for the upcoming summer sports festival, and so far, they'd displayed proficiency on a level Aizawa had denounced as "barely passable for first years" (something which All Might would later tell Izuku was the closest thing Aizawa had ever given to a compliment).

"This was scheduled to be Uraraka's turn, but as she didn't show up today, you are already in the ring and will be taking her place. Be grateful for the extra experience."

 _Ochako…she's_ never _absent. What's gotten into her?_ He'd tried calling her before class, and again at lunch, but both times his phone had gone straight to voicemail, and the recording of her bubbly voice had sent a stab of nausea through his gut.

Gritting his teeth, he tried to focus on the task at hand, bowing to Satou; his sparring partner returned the gesture as he reached into one of the pockets on his utility belt for a pouch of sugar.

 _Okay. Up against Satou...he's strong, but he's not particularly smart right now, and he's running on instincts that haven't been trained yet…so what I need to rely on right now is speed and brainpower!_

Ducking under a punch, Izuku lunged to the right, feinting left before rolling sideways and kicking off the ground to toss himself forward. Landing on his feet behind his opponent, he forwent a punch for the force of a two-handed shove, but even with OFA backing the push, Satou didn't move more than a couple of inches, instead whipping around with a sling of one heavy arm to toss Izuku away and to the edge of the ring.

 _Ah…that was too close. He's fast, too. Maybe I'll just play it safe…he's bound to come for me again._

As expected, his opponent charged him like a bull not five seconds later, rushing headlong to grab the smaller boy; Izuku braced himself as if he were going to take the hit, but at the last possible moment, he leapt straight up and out of sight, timing his jump so that he landed squarely on Satou's shoulders, knocking him off balance and causing him to stumble with his own momentum.

"…And the winner is Midoriya. Again," Aizawa drawled, as Satou flopped on his stomach to tumble out of the ring. After a brief bow, Izuku followed his classmate out of the ring, only for their teacher to catch him by the shoulder and pull him to stand squarely before Aizawa's signature lazy glare. "Don't let this victory get to your head. Someone with a strength Quirk that does not erase their mental function would have bested you there. Understand?"

"Ah, um, yes, Aizawa-sensei."

"…Hmph. Next up is Bakugou and Todoroki," his teacher called out, and the two teenagers trudged to the front of the class, the former looking daggers at the latter. Todoroki, on the other hand, didn't so much as glance at Bakugou until the two stepped into the ring to face off.

"You okay?" Izuku asked Satou, as he rejoined the others. "I, um, didn't really mean to hit you that hard in the back."

"You kidding? I'm surprised I didn't break any of your ribs," Satou chuckled, his Quirk having worn off. "Don't worry about it."

There was a croak, and Tsuyu's voice piped up somewhere around the level of his shoulder. "Midoriya-chan, have you talked to Ochako-chan at all?" she asked, from his left, and Izuku shook his head, biting his lip.

Worry for his friend numbed the tension that he'd have otherwise felt watching 1-A's elite face off; even when Bakugou blasted a spectacular path through Todoroki's ice wall, spraying shards like glass across the ground, the only thing on Izuku's mind was _her_ ; even when Todoroki retaliated by quite literally _entombing_ Bakugou in ice, he couldn't stop thinking of where _she_ might be; even when Bakugou exploded out of his frozen prison in a colossal detonation that shook the very earth beneath their feet and cast a haze of smoke across the entire field, all Izuku could see was the sad little smile she'd given him before they'd been escorted home by the police.

He hadn't even been taking notes during the sparring, and Iida picked up on this, confronting him as they headed for the classroom to pick up their bags before dismissal.

"Midoriya-kun. You haven't been muttering like usual today."

"…I know."

"Is this about Uraraka-kun?"

"It's that obvious, huh?" he returned, giving his friend a grimace; he received an awkward pat on the back in return, in Iida's usual robotic fashion, and the grimace melted into a smile not unlike the one he'd just been thinking of. "…Thanks, Iida-kun. Uraraka-san was really shaken up after the attack, so I think she's just taking some time off to rest at home. She got hurt, too," he added, even though he was pretty sure he'd healed her injury (unintentionally, but he'd done it nonetheless).

"I am sure she will be fine!" the vice-rep thundered, giving Izuku one curt, mechanical nod even as guilt for lying to Iida flooded the pit of his stomach. "Uraraka-san is a fellow heroics student, after all. She has the fortitude it takes to get through this!"

"I sure hope so," the other murmured, slipping his phone from his pocket – still nothing. "Still, I'm gonna go check on her when I get home. We were supposed to go to my house today after school, but…."

That wasn't a sentence he knew how to finish.

The walk home was agonizingly slow, the wait for the train even worse; his fellow passengers, comfortably familiar now, noticed his fidgeting, the distinctive lack of Uraraka, but even Biscuit Ears's signature biscuits didn't do much for his mood – still, he'd given Izuku a few for the road in a plastic baggie, an unexpectedly kind gesture that made him feel just a little better. _I guess I should think these are gross_ ran through his head as he half-jogged along the sidewalk, but he munched halfheartedly on one anyway, failing to taste it. _It's funny how being worried can take the color out of life._

Midoriya Inko was understandably confused by the way he simply dropped his bag off and ran right back out of the door with barely a greeting or explanation other than "Sorry Mom, I'll text you!", but the churning in his stomach had gotten worse with each passing step, and even though he knew it was technically illegal, he couldn't help using One For All to get himself to her apartment as fast as he could move, bounding across lawns and pavement in spectacular leaps that sent him a dozen feet in the air (hopefully nobody had been looking through their windows just then; even if he was still in his distinct Yuuei uniform, there was no telling who'd mistake him for a villain).

Letting the power leave his body, he pushed through the glass front door to the building, practically running up the steps, footsteps echoing up and down the apartment lobby; when he reached the third floor, her floor, he nearly threw himself into the door, barely controlling himself enough to knock politely before calling her name. "Uraraka-san?"

Silence. He realized he'd been dancing a jig in the hallway for a solid ten seconds and had to force himself to stand still as he knocked once more, trying again: "Ochako?"

Nothing.

Steeling himself, Izuku tried the handle and, to his mixed surprise and revulsion, found the door to be unlocked; against the voice in his head telling him _no, no, you can't go in there, she's a girl_ , he pushed it open, slipping inside and closing himself into a wreck of an apartment.

Sparse furniture sprawled across the living room; the sofa they'd napped on was overturned and against the opposite wall, the television cords splayed across the rug like the remains of a particularly grisly murder; the coffee table floated on the ceiling (which told him she'd likely used her Quirk on the other furniture as well, explaining the mysterious lack of damage), while one of the mugs they'd had their tea in lay shattered on the tile of the tiny kitchen.

A shard of the mug, with a little smiling face drawn on it, sat by the kitchen threshold, staring up at him. He kicked it away.

Out of habit, he slipped his shoes off, then headed for the little hallway where her room and the bathroom were. The bathroom was open and empty, but the door to her room was closed, and to his dismay, it was locked.

"…Ochako?" he tried again.

Something shuffled inside, but the door didn't open, and there was no verbal response.

"Ochako."

Nothing.

"Please don't make me break down the door, Uraraka-san."

When he received no reply for the third time in a row, he opted for a less violent approach, channeling One For All through his hand to twist the cheap doorknob hard enough to crack the lock from the other side. Ordinarily, he'd have marveled at the way he'd just controlled his power on such a fine scale – but now, in his fear, his worry, he didn't even think twice about it, stepping into the bedroom.

He found her on the ceiling.

To his relief, she was unharmed, but there was a dent in the wall under which her phone lay, and he had an inkling he knew what had happened; Uraraka herself curled into a ball in the corner, still in her sleep shorts and tank top, knees to her chest, eyes squeezed tightly shut.

"What're you doin' here, Deku-kun?" Her voice was hoarse, raw – but not the quiet rasp of disuse. No, this was a voice he'd only heard from Bakugou after a particularly rough day.

"You've been screaming."

It wasn't a question. Izuku stood on the carpet, arms at his sides, looking up at his broken-down best friend.

"No."

That hadn't been a question either, but he'd be damned if he let her go like this.

"Ochako…" he started, but before he could even put together a coherent thought, she vomited into a bucket on the floor under her and dropped like a stone. It was then that he realized – _how long has she been floating herself!?_

He didn't look into the bucket, even if it would have answered his question. He did, however, manage to catch her, stopping her from falling into it, and he carefully laid her down on the bed, leaving the room and putting aside etiquette for a few minutes to comb through her cabinets for two washcloths, a glass of water, some mouthwash, and an empty glass.

Returning, he turned her head to face him, gently cleaning off her mouth, her lips, with one washcloth; afterward, he handed her the mouthwash, which she reluctantly swished for a minute before spitting it into the empty glass, followed by a perfunctory rinse from the other glass and a few gulps of water.

"Ochako," he said again, almost a whisper, and she looked up at him, really _looked_ at him for the first time – and her eyes filled with tears.

"Izukkun, I - "

"It's okay," he interrupted, before she had a chance to speak. "I bet you're about to say you're sorry that I had to see you like this."

Mutely, she nodded.

"Don't be sorry. The only thing you should be sorry for is not telling me sooner. This is about your parents, isn't it?" Izuku asked, keeping his expression carefully neutral, and she nodded, swallowing hard.

"Yeah."

Without a word, Izuku lowered himself onto the bed next to her, holding the other washcloth in one hand; with his free hand, its fingers trembling, he lifted the hem of her shirt, drawing a fiery blush out of her even in her grief, and laid the washcloth across the bare skin of her stomach.

"My mom used to do this for me when I had a stomachache. It worked pretty well," he explained, but it didn't make him feel any less awkward about the light pressure he held on it, even when she bit her lip and looked the other way.

After a minute of silence, he let go of the washcloth, reaching into his pocket for the biscuits from earlier and holding one out for her. She took it, nibbling on the edge, then spoke, looking up at him from the pillow.

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why? Why did you come here?"

"What kind of question is that?"

Nibble, nibble. A crumb lay forgotten on her cheek.

"…I dunno. I moved around a lot when I was a kid, so I guess I'm just not used t' anyone carin' enough to check on me like this."

"You couldn't reach them again, huh?"

"No. I jus' got a dial tone."

He leaned down to pick her phone up, holding the button to turn it back on. When he sat up to place it on her nightstand, she'd taken a large chunk out of the biscuit. "You scared me when all I got was voice mail."

"…Sorry." She swallowed hard, took another bite.

He handed her another biscuit.

"Want me to make you anything?"

"No, I'm okay for now. Thanks, Deku-kun."

For a few minutes, they sat together in silence, Uraraka munching her biscuit and massaging her stomach. At length, Izuku got up from the bed, picking up what he recognized as a notebook computer, razor-thin and bright pink; it was an older model, probably secondhand knowing Uraraka, but it started just fine, and he returned to her side, laying down next to her with the notebook across his lap.

"Whazzat?" she mumbled, through a mouthful of biscuit, and when the operating system loaded, he chose to log in as a guest, opening the web browser and pulling up a map of the damage the fissure had caused to Yokosuka.

"I thought it might help if we went over this together. We were supposed to do this at my house, where I could have overlaid the street map with the disaster photos…but it's okay, we can do it here, too. Even if it takes a little longer…as long as it helps you, Ochako." He spoke openly, honestly, hoping he wasn't overstepping his boundaries, and when he finished, she stared at him for a few seconds, then dipped her head.

Izuku handed her the glass of water, and she took a long drink before offering what was left to him; accepting, he gulped down the rest before replacing the empty glass on the nightstand, turning his attention back to the map.

The fissure, fifteen miles long and two wide at the middle, had cracked through the earth from the outskirts of Futtsu to the outskirts of Yokosuka, slicing straight down the middle of each city hall and obliterating everything in its path. It had tapered down to each end, narrowly missing the Yokosuka Kyōsai Hospital; Uraraka said that her parents had been working at the coastal Nojima mall, an older structure undergoing renovation and expansion, and from the looks of things, the damage to the mall hadn't been particularly severe; it, like the mall, had barely escaped the fissure's jaws, but the sheer force of the fissure had caused several parts of the building to collapse, and while it still wasn't great news, the fact that her parents likely hadn't fallen into a fissure and drowned cheered Uraraka considerably.

That didn't mean Izuku wasn't surprised when she flipped over and, clinging to his neck, snuggled into his chest, letting out a muffled _mmph_ as she did.

"Uraraka-san!?" he yelped, arms sticking out to either side, but she didn't budge, keeping her face buried in his shirt. Eventually, she raised her head, cheeks burning, but for once, Izuku found himself unable to look away.

"I'm sorry, Izukkun." Words, slipping out on her breath.

"Don't apologize, Ura – Ochako," he told her, correcting himself again; as much as he enjoyed the way using her first name made him feel warm inside, it was still difficult adjusting to doing so when they were alone. "Just…talk to me, okay? You said you trusted me yesterday, and – "

"I do! I just…I didn't know what to do, y'know? My whole life, my parents have been the only people I've had…moving around as much as we did wasn't too helpful with makin' friends. So I never really had anyone I could count on besides them…thinkin' I lost 'em when I haven't even _seen_ 'em for almost two months felt like too much."

Shaking, Izuku let himself wrap his arms around her shoulders, pulling her in closer.

"Then just don't do it again, okay?" he whispered. "You're my best friend. That's what people do for their best friends, right?"

"…Yeah."

He'd pulled her close enough to taste her breath on his lips – the foul reek of vomit had gone, replaced by the faint aroma of the biscuits she'd just eaten, tinged with mint.

"That's…what we do."

Her lips, soft, warm, electric, pressed to the corner of his mouth and sent their shock down his spine, fear and exhilaration and terror and _everything_ flooding through his whole body; he felt the blood drain from his face, and she pulled away, tears streaming down her own.

"Sorry," she whispered, and rolled off him, staring at the ceiling instead.

Izuku couldn't even blink, let alone speak.

 _Ochako…what was that?  
_

* * *

"Alright, young Midoriya. If you can complete this course, you will be more than ready for the sports festival tomorrow!"

Izuku bit back a groan.

All of Yuuei had been rehearsing for quite literally the entire day – processions, formations, ceremonies, all drilled into their heads for nearly ten straight hours, bar lunch. He thought he'd have been relieved to finally get some _action_ in – but, facing the parkour course that had been set up for him, he started having second thoughts.

The very first obstacle that awaited him was, to his shock, two parallel walls, situated some ten feet apart, with a ledge thirty feet up that he could tell he'd have to reach by _leaping back and forth between the two walls._

"Um, All Might, do you really think I can do this?" So far, Izuku had primarily tested his Quirk in combat and simply running, but he hadn't attempted any sort of acrobatics or parkour; he'd always been a little on the clumsy side, and he knew if he lost confidence, he'd most likely lose momentum as well – and falling from these heights wasn't exactly a joke.

"Of course! I wouldn't have set you this task if I didn't think you had what it takes!" All Might boomed, standing proudly with his fists at his waist, and Izuku bit back a groan – he hadn't been expecting hero training to be easy, but sometimes he felt like he was taking baby steps while the other students had already hit their stride.

 _Right._ Clenching his jaw, Izuku nodded, trying to push _certain thoughts_ out of his head and focus entirely on the task at hand.

Drawing on One For All became easier each time he did it, to the point where it was almost becoming second nature to call upon the power he'd been given ( _the power you earned!_ he had to remind himself, or else he'd feel guilty), but sometimes he'd pull too much, or not enough, and he'd hurt himself either through overexertion or by misjudging his own power output. Still, it was better than where he'd been, relying on a single explosion of power for thirty seconds each day, and he'd finally stopped feeling like he was _squandering_ One For All.

Even as he leapt for the left wall, however, his mind wandered back to the Phoenix Quirk – _his_ actual Quirk, a Quirk unique to Midoriya Izuku, the thing he'd wanted his whole life…and yet, when he'd discovered it, he'd more or less left it on the backburner.

There was, he was certain, a way to draw out its power short of dying; he'd managed to pull _something_ when he'd carried Uraraka (his heart skipped a beat at the thought of her) out of the mall, and during his fight with Bakugou, he'd left burned-in handprints on the explosive blonde's arms…

 _What was I feeling back then? What was I thinking?_

He hit the right wall at a forty-five degree angle and scrambled awkwardly before sliding down, landing in a heap at the bottom; after taking a moment to reevaluate, he leapt for the left wall again, kicking off and aiming the apex of his jump a short distance away from the opposite surface so that when he started to fall, his foot would come down and hit the wall before the rest of him, enabling him to kick off again.

 _What did that fire_ do _? It felt warm, but what was the point of it? What does my Quirk even do…?_

Questions piled on, and he tossed himself over the ledge as if he could escape his racing mind, landing hard on his feet and dropping to one knee. The thoughts caught up in no time, and when All Might landed effortlessly next to him, he leaned down to catch a glimpse of Izuku's face.

"Young Midoriya, is something wrong?"

"Ah. I was just thinking about my own Quirk." _Better off being honest. All Might could know a thing or two about it, anyway._

"Hm? Oh, your rebirth Quirk, right?"

"Um…kind of. It's not really rebirth…I just burn up whenever I take too much damage. But there've been a few times lately where I've been able to use some kind of fire without getting hurt, and I don't really understand how it happened. It's always been when I was…trying to protect someone…"

His speech slowed, his eyes widened.

 _Is that it?_

 _Could that be what I've been missing this entire time? That determination I felt…is that what it takes?_

"All Might," Izuku murmured. "Can a Quirk…work with how you feel?"

"Who said they can't? I had a fight back in my prime where I truly had to go beyond, and that feeling is what let me use my _real_ one hundred percent!"

Unexpectedly, All Might let out a burst of steam, and when it cleared, there stood his true, gaunt form, expression serious. "But, ah…really. Quirks are a physical part of you. Humans have been known to display incredible strength in the past simply by force of their own will or feeling. Have you ever seen that old picture of a woman in a comic book lifting a car off of a baby?"

Izuku nodded.

"I bet you thought that was just a strength Quirk…but that picture dates back to well before Quirks ever surfaced. That mother's drive to save her child is what let her use the full strength of the human body and spirit. So who's to say your own emotional drive can't let you use the full strength of _your_ body – which, today, includes your Quirk?"

"…When I pulled Och – Uraraka-san – "

"Midoriya, I know you two are on a first-name basis. You don't have to pretend you're not," All Might pointed out.

"It's…not that. But, um," he added, hastily, desperate to steer the conversation away from Uraraka, "when I pulled her out of the hole in the floor, there was fire coming out of my arms, and I don't even know how I did it, or what that even did."

"Hmph. I see." All Might set his jaw, clearly deep in thought, and after around ten seconds of silence, Izuku reached up to prod him in the shoulder, only for his mentor to suddenly whip around to face him, eyes blazing. "So! You believe it was your determination to save young Uraraka that brought that out of you?"

"That's what I was thinking, yeah," Izuku replied, withdrawing his hand.

"Well…I wouldn't be surprised. One of the things that impressed me about you was your determination, after all. A Quirk like that…it suits you."

"What do you mean?"

"Someone like you, who clung to the hope that they could be a hero for ten years…who, Quirkless, rushed in to save someone who'd been cruel to them for ten years, even knowing they could be killed – it makes sense that you'd have a Quirk that could defy death through your sheer determination to keep living and moving forward."

The training center was quiet for a few seconds. Then -

"…What are you crying for!?"

That wasn't a question Izuku knew how to answer.

* * *

All in all, the training exercise had gone very well; he hadn't been able to use Phoenix at all, but with some help from All Might, he'd managed to work more on his state-of-mind and conditioning to improve the consistency of One For All – and in the space of a month, he'd finally been able to gain some semblance of control over at least one of his Quirks, to the point where, for the first time he could remember, he felt almost _confident._

He walked home by himself – like him, Uraraka had been hanging around after school for the entirety of that week, but they never crossed paths, and Iida had sat between them at lunch. Ever since the previous Tuesday – exactly a week ago, and the day after he'd rushed to her apartment – the air between them had been distinctly chilly, and he wasn't exactly sure why.

She hadn't even told him if she'd received any further news on her parents, but the expression of grief she wore had shifted into one of determination masking hurt – one Izuku himself had worn all too often – and, to his mixed worry and relief, she'd started working harder than anyone else during their heroics training, to the point where even Aizawa had had nothing to criticize by their lesson that afternoon.

By the time Izuku got home, something heavy had settled in the pit of his stomach, but he couldn't figure out what it was, and frankly, he didn't have the time to – the sports festival would be starting early tomorrow, and all of Japan would be watching.

 _Just like All Might said…it's time for me to tell the world:_

 _I am here._


	12. Chapter 12

**I had difficulty rearranging the cavalry teams properly. I hope it turned out alright.**

* * *

" _Smaaash!"_

Midoriya Izuku slammed his fist through the curtain of solid ice that greeted him at the exit to the tunnel and burst through into streaming sunlight.

" _ **And Todoroki Shouto is first out into the field!"**_

Present Mic's voice boomed across the stadium, magnified a hundredfold by his Quirk. Izuku grit his teeth and poured on the speed, charging across the dirt at five percent One For All, trying his hardest to catch up to Todoroki's head start – then he heard the blasts.

 _Kacchan!?_

"Where the fuck d'you think you're going, Deku!?" the blonde screamed, over the din of his own explosions, and Izuku grit his teeth.

 _First place is where I'm going!_ he shot back, mentally, but he kept his focus on running, one step after the other; steadily, he gained on Todoroki, then –

 _Boom._

A slab of metal the size of a house slammed into the ground in front of Todoroki, and without even flinching, he launched a crescent kick skyward, skating to a stop on his own ice before slamming his right palm into the ground and sending a frozen wave screaming up the sides of the pair of zero-pointers blocking their way before shooting off between one's legs and freezing the gap behind him; behind them, the students first through the ice Todoroki had left blocking off the tunnel were starting to catch up, in particular the more mobile ones: Sero, Iida, somehow Mineta (displaying admirable agility and reflexes by bouncing from one hairball to the next at high speed), and –

"Uraraka-san!?"

Izuku nearly lost his focus when he spotted Uraraka, an expression somewhere between fury and determination on her round face, running at top speed; every so often, she'd touch five fingers to her palm and sling forward, as if propelled by some invisible force – _what is she doing?_

He didn't know what he was feeling, but there was definitely confusion in there, and he shoved it aside, springing for one of the robots' legs and bouncing between them just like All Might's training exercise; exhilarated, he nearly laughed as he took one final leap for the gap between them, sailing through the air just as Bakugou shot by him, rage written across his features.

 _I'm in third place now…but there are still two more segments after the – footrace!?_

Literally dozens of the villain robots from the entrance exam lined the path ahead, but Todoroki, unfazed, skated forward on his right foot, sending up waves of ice that either froze the robots in place or punctured their chasses, destroying them; ahead of Izuku, Bakugou rocketed forward, the heat from his explosions melting away Todoroki's ice.

" _Midoriya."_

" _Oh – hey, Todoroki-kun. What's up?"_

" _Come with me. We're talking."_

"… _Uh, alright."_

 _Todoroki led him around the side of the stadium, to an enclosed alcove away from the rest of the class. Leaning against the wall, he trained his gaze on Izuku, waiting to speak until the other had positioned himself against the opposite wall._

What does he want? _Izuku had no idea what this could possibly be about._

" _What are you?"_

" _What?"_

" _What are you, Midoriya? Your Quirk is called Phoenix, but nothing you've been showing off for the past couple of weeks has been anything like what a phoenix is described as."_

" _I…"_

" _Fire. Regeneration. Healing tears. You've displayed two of them once that I can remember."_

" _Todoroki-kun, I'm sorry, but I can't tell you much more about it. I barely understand it myself."_

 _Was he mistaken, or was Todoroki shaking?_

"… _If you say so. But just know one thing, Midoriya."_

" _Huh?"_

" _I'm going to beat you today. With just my right, I'll show him that I don't need his power to take down someone with a fire Quirk."_

 _And with that, he paced off, steps measured, refusing to look back at Izuku – who stood there for a long while after wondering just what he'd done wrong._

No more of that. Izuku was fired up now, and he knew – he had to come out on top, no matter what.

Which was why the fact that he landed squarely on Todoroki's ice struck him as particularly ironic, even as he slipped and fell and Sero, Mineta and Uraraka flew past him without a glance.

Uraraka, whose acceleration, he realized, was closer to _falling forward_ than jumping…

Bittersweet pride flooded through him; while they hadn't been speaking, it was good to know that she hadn't given up, that she'd perhaps found another use for her Quirk than just floating objects, and that – regardless of what had happened to her parents – she was still trying to move forward. Why that involved not speaking to him, he still wasn't sure, but he didn't have time to dwell on it, not when he had a race to win.

Nearly screaming with the effort, he tore past the others in just a few bounds and reclaimed third place, gaining slowly but surely on Bakugou and Todoroki, who fought neck-and-neck for first; gritting his teeth, Izuku nearly stopped again when he spotted the beginning of the second stretch of the obstacle course, a deep fissure.

Bakugou, of course, had no trouble with it; he was already effectively flying as it stood, and he didn't even bat an eye, blasting his way across the chasms between the precariously balanced chunks of ground connected by ropes that comprised their second obstacle; Todoroki, on the other hand, was forced to slow, skating carefully across each rope one by one in sequence.

Fear shot through him – what if he fell? what if he couldn't jump far enough and was forced to slowly creep across the ropes? – but he could almost hear Bakugou's voice screaming at him in his own head: _damnit, Deku, this ain't the time for this shit! just hurry up and fucking do it already!_ – and for once he heeded the blonde's advice, squinting his eyes shut tight as he leapt from the edge of the chasm to the first platform, landing squarely in the middle; in just a couple more bounds, he'd surpassed Todoroki, who fell into fourth place behind Sero and just ahead of Iida, who'd also had to slow down for the chasm segment (Mineta, having exhausted both himself and his Quirk, had fallen behind a bit).

Uraraka had stopped, staring at the fissure's edge, but he didn't give her a second glance.

As far as Izuku could tell, there was no longer any particular risk of losing the top few spots; few of his classmates possessed any particular mobility - while Satou and Shouji were fast, they lacked the ability to cross gaps effectively, and while Tsuyu possessed excellent jumping abilities and short-range speed, she still fell off at range. That left Bakugou, of course, followed by Todoroki (who Izuku was beginning to suspect was only slowing down out of caution and not an inability to skate across the chasm), then Iida, Sero, and apparently now Uraraka, all of whom possessed both effective horizontal and vertical mobility. With a jolt, he realized that he now numbered among them, and furthermore, that he was _ahead_ of them – all of them but Bakugou, who still remained tantalizingly out of reach. What was more, the more Bakugou used his Quirk and the longer he – ran? flew? – the more he sweated and the more powerful it became, and at some point, Izuku would simply be unable to catch up to him.

He grit his teeth and ran.

" _I'm gonna win. Don't bother trying to get in my way."_

 _That was all Bakugou Katsuki said before stepping down from the stage to a cacophony of jeers._

" _What does he think he is doing!?" Iida fumed. "He has tarnished the reputation of class 1-A and made us all targets!"_

" _Yeah, what was Aizawa-sensei thinking putting him first?" Ashido grumbled. "Shoulda been me. I'd have pumped everyone up!"_

" _Well, Bakugou is currently top in the class," Yaoyorozu pointed out mildly. "He's…smarter than I'd thought, and I hate to admit it, but he's probably the best fighter out of all of us."_

 _Todoroki clenched his fists._

" _That's Kacchan for you," Izuku shrugged. "He was always getting top scores in middle school, too."_

" _I wish his big head didn't have a basis!" Kaminari snarled. "It's like Mineta-kun, guys like him are only funny when they're stupid."_

" _Like you have room to talk." Jirou playfully jabbed him with one of her jacks, and Kaminari yelped in indignation._

 _Izuku could only watch as Bakugou strolled back over to a class he wasn't a part of._

In the past, perhaps he'd have been intimidated; perhaps he'd have ceded the spot to Bakugou and settled for second. But ever since he'd gotten into Yuuei, ever since he'd made friends for the first time in his life, ever since he'd developed One For All, a change had come slowly but surely over Midoriya Izuku; for some, having such power at their disposal after a lifetime of feeling helpless and isolated might have caused madness, loss of control, but Izuku felt _empowered_ , felt _capable,_ and this only fueled his drive to become worthy of what he'd been given and what he'd earned.

No, his determination didn't die with his Quirkless registration. If anything, it had only gotten stronger, and as he pelted after Bakugou – after _Kacchan_ , whose back he'd been staring at his whole life, desperately reaching for the acceptance of the one to whom he'd looked up – he felt it rise up in his chest, bubbling up like lava, warming his whole body, and something rose in him like a bird taking flight –

The crowd screamed, and in the blur of noise, he heard Present Mic say his name. He didn't understand why until he spotted the forewings; wreathed of golden flame, they burned, scorched, running along the edge of his ulna on the outside of his forearm, fire tracing fine outlines of individual feathers that formed blades like the shoulders of a raptor.

 _Phoenix…it's like All Might said. A Quirk that I draw out with my determination…so what do I do now?_

A flashback. _The Quirk evaluation tests. The standing long jump._ The way he'd crossed his arms and forced One For All through them at one hundred percent to propel himself further, and the way he'd glided…

He'd had no control then, no inkling of what his powers were or what to do with them, but now – now, things were different. With one smooth motion, like he'd been planning it all along, he took the five percent of One For All he could safely utilize and let it flow through his arms, crossing them over his chest and feeling that _warmth_ surge through him, diverting it to the wings. Small as they were, they only let him glide for a few seconds at a time, but that was enough for him as he kicked off hard, slicing through the air and blazing twin trails in his wake.

For the first time, he let himself smile.

" _Deku!?"_

Bakugou's scream of shock and confusion as Izuku shot forward like a rocket was gratifying, but he didn't let it break his focus – he couldn't afford to, not now.

" _Get the fuck back here, Deku!"_

Was it his imagination, or were Bakugou's blasts becoming stronger? He supposed it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility; after all, like All Might had said, a Quirk was a physical part of someone's body, and if emotions could have so strong an influence on a Quirkless body as to let a woman lift a car by herself, Bakugou could no doubt fuel the power of his own explosions on pure rage. He wasn't surprised to see the fiery blonde catching up, redoubling the power and frequency of his blasts, gaining slowly but surely on Izuku – the last stretch was ahead of them, the ground lumpy and misshapen, and Izuku had a feeling he knew what it was, but they were both more or less flying by then, Izuku with the wings he still wasn't sure he could fully control, Bakugou essentially blasting himself into the air – and then, suddenly, somehow, Todoroki was behind them, fury written across his face, using his ice to pick up speed like a skateboarder on a half-pipe; with a wordless shout, he managed to fire off a crawling line of ice that outpaced both Izuku and Bakugou, setting off the mines underfoot and blasting both of them out of the air.

 _It's not technically against the rules, since he didn't directly attack us with his Quirk…but –_

And then Todoroki Shouto burned past the disoriented duo on a sheet of ice.

" _Get back here, half-and-half bastard!"_ Bakugou, having more natural control over his Quirk than Izuku, got himself off the ground faster, and Izuku struggled to his feet, pushing his limits to draw out One For All – _just another minute!_ – and run after him, Phoenix's wings dissipating into thin air.

Even after Bakugou's recovery, however, Todoroki was still moving too quickly and with too much of a head start for the blonde to catch up before the heterochrome crossed the finish line, his right side covered almost entirely in a fine sheen of clear ice; Bakugou landed next to him, out of breath and drenched in sweat but still managing to let out a string of colorful swears with each ragged gasp; finally, Izuku skidded to a stop, coming up in a respectable third place that he was by no means satisfied with.

" _ **The first stretch of the obstacle race comes to a spectacular close! In first place: Todoroki Shouto! In second: Bakugou Katsuki! And in third: Midoriya Izuku! Thirty-nine places remain for those wishing to proceed to the next event!"**_

* * *

"Midoriya-kun."

"Oh. Hey, Iida-kun." Izuku nodded, scooting sideways on the bench to make room for Iida, who held a bottle in each hand: a sports drink, which he offered to the greenhead, and a bottle of orange juice, which Izuku figured was to refuel his engines. "Ah. Thanks."

"Of course," Iida responded, taking a sip of juice as Izuku twisted the cap from the sports drink and took a long, greedy gulp. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah. Lots, I really appreciate it. How about you?"

"I am perfectly fine. Slightly winded, perhaps, and – "

"There's a bruise on your knee, though." Izuku pointed.

"Hm? Ah, yes. Someone bumped me with one of their support items as they moved past me. Careless! Indiscriminate! Impol – "

"Iida-kun, you're scaring the others."

" – hooligan – oh! My apologies!" he called, to the two bemused support-class students watching him from an adjacent bench, and Izuku rolled his eyes, unable to stop the grin from spreading across his face. "But really, it's nothing."

"Are you sure? Recovery Girl is right there, you could ask her to heal it for you. That's why she's here, after all."

"I will be fine! There is no need to worry!" the vice-rep reassured his friend, giving a robotic nod. "…Tell me, Midoriya-kun. What do you think the next event will be?"

"Um…I don't know. I know there's always a tournament bracket with sixteen people that wraps up the festival, but the first two events have been different every year I've watched. I guess we'll just have to wait until Midnight announces it."

Just then, Uraraka walked by, not so much as acknowledging either of them. The expression on her face hadn't changed from the one Izuku had seen on the track, and her hands were balled into fists – and he was fairly certain it wasn't in anticipation of holding a drink bottle.

Izuku felt his heart sink in a way that had very little to do with the next event.

* * *

An event that, to his dismay, turned out to be –

" _Tag team!? What the hell do you think you're doing!?"_ Bakugou spewed, the moment the words had left Midnight's lips. _"I thought this was a battle to the top!"_

"Of course it is," came Midnight's silky purr, and she fixed her sultry, half-lidded gaze on the blonde. "But part of the strength we're looking for is the ability to work together. You will be allowed to construct your own teams, but I daresay that the forty-two we have here aren't all friends, and not a few of you will be forced into working with people whose personalities, Quirks and styles you know nothing about. The truly heroic among you will be able to overcome these difficulties, something pro heroes must do on a routine basis in the field should they find themselves working outside of their teams."

"Shit" was all Bakugou had to say to this.

"The rules are simple. The point-based headbands we will assign you momentarily must be worn by the rider, either on their head or neck, and you must steal other students' headbands to accumulate the most points and proceed on to the final event of the festival. Anything goes, as long as you do not directly attack other students in a way that does not contribute to your acquisition of their headbands and the designated rider must not touch the ground. Doing so will result in your disqualification."

Izuku bit his lip as they read out the point values of each student, based on their place in the obstacle race; as second and third place, both his and Bakugou's were high, but it was nothing compared to Todoroki's – Todoroki, who was handed a headband with _ten million_ written across it (and an appropriately sized helping of shock that even his usual stoicism couldn't quite hide).

 _He's not stupid. He knows this will make him everyone's target,_ Izuku thought. _So who's going to team up with him…?_

"…and in forty-second place, a single point," Midnight finished. "Don't use it all in one place, hmm?"

A few people snickered, and Midnight smirked that signature seductive smirk of hers. "Lovely. Now, if you don't mind, arrange yourselves into teams of two to four. You have ten minutes to team up and work out your strategies, starting now."

Used to sudden dismissals by now, the students began milling about, gravitating into small friend groups or approaching total strangers with compatible or powerful Quirks; he spotted Iida talking to a boy from 1-B whose name he didn't know, Kaminari trying to chat up a girl with vines for hair (Izuku thought she looked familiar, but he couldn't quite say), Aoyama being rejected by three separate groups, Mineta having an actual conversation with Tsuyu (mediated by Shouji). On instinct, he glanced around for Uraraka, but when he didn't see her, he figured – _she's probably just out of sight behind someone._

"Hey, Iida-kun!" he called, to his friend and the boy from 1-B, but to his surprise, Iida shook his head, a small, sad smile playing across his lips.

"Ah. Midoriya-kun, I am sorry. Friends though we may be, we are also rivals, and it is in this exercise that I would like to surpass you."

"Oh, um…that's okay!" It stung a little, but he had to admit Iida had a point; they were friends, but in this tournament, they were still competing, and only one could come out on top…

Still, despite his displays of both One For All and Phoenix, nobody seemed particularly interested in him, and he had to wonder if he really did look that plain, was really that forgettable. Two minutes in, most students had teamed up, and he was finding it hard to spot a group that wasn't full…until he heard Bakugou's signature screaming.

" _What!? It's just me and Hair-for-Brains!? What the hell is this shit!?"_

"Hey, man, relax. I'm pretty sturdy!"

" _That's not what I'm talking about, dumbass!"_

"Kacchan? Kirishima-kun?"

Both boys turned to face him, and their reactions were about as far apart as the earth and sun: Kirishima's grin split even wider, while Bakugou reached up and actually made to tear out a chunk of his own hair.

"Hey, Midoriya! What's up?" Kirishima called, but Bakugou threw himself in front of the redhead, arms spread protectively.

"No you don't, shitrag! I don't want you on my damn team!" he snarled, like a rabid dog; Izuku was surprised to see that he wasn't foaming at the mouth, but the effect was still formidable, and he cringed out of habit.

"Don't be so mean, Bakugou-kun. He did pretty awesome out there! Almost beat you, too," Kirishima ribbed, and Izuku knew what was about to happen a moment before it did – Bakugou whirled on him, poised to go off, but just then, a flicker of silver struck him in the temple at high speed and he spun again, looking around for the source.

"Aah! My baby!"

Completely ignoring Bakugou, a girl with pink – curls? _what do I even call her hair!?_ – came dashing over, knocking over not a few students whose names Izuku didn't know (as well as Kaminari) with a bulky, many-armed device that she wore like a backpack, each arm sticking out at just the right angle to sweep someone off their feet. Kneeling, she fished the projectile (a bolt) from the grass, replacing it in her pocket, then stood, glancing at the three boys as if she'd only just noticed they were there.

"Who the hell are you?" Bakugou snapped.

"Oh! You two are…the runners-up!" she declared, surveying both the fiery blonde and Izuku through what appeared to be aviator goggles, only there was some sort of scope attached over each eye; not realizing the mistake she'd made in pointing out Bakugou's lack of absolute victory, she shook a hand he hadn't offered, then took Izuku's while the other stood stock-still, shaking with barely-contained fury. "I'm Hatsume Mei, from the support department, and don't you forget it! You're from the hero course, right? You'll need my babies to help you out there!"

 _Is this girl ignoring him or just dense…?_

"Kirishima Ejirou!" the redhead boomed, proudly, jabbing a finger at his own chest with a resounding _bang_ that told Izuku he'd used his Quirk on himself. "You need someone sturdy to be your front-runner, I'm the man for the job!"

"Um, Midoriya Izuku," the greenhead told her, feeling strangely violated. "I, um, my Quirk is – "

"Oh, I know you! You had wings, right?"

"…I did? My Quirk's just a strength-type…"

" _Bullshit!"_ Bakugou spewed, letting out a fraction of his rage as he turned on Izuku. "Strength Quirks don't spray fire out of your fuckin' arms, dumbass!"

"…And that's Bakugou Katsuki," Kirishima cut in, introducing him for Hatsume's sake, but if she'd heard him, she gave no indication.

"Hey, Hair-for-Brains! Why are you actin' like they're gonna be on our team, huh!?"

"I don't see anyone else free," the redhead pointed out mildly. "And I don't think having just us two would be a good idea. You're worth a lot of points, dude. And I can't promise I won't get knocked over if it's just me, especially against Todoroki-kun."

 _And we both know he's gonna be going right for Todoroki-kun,_ Izuku thought, catching Kirishima's eye, and the other boy nodded back. _Kacchan can't stand losing even a little bit…_

"If you let me on your team, you'll have full access to all of my babies, courtesy of me, Hatsume Mei!" the girl offered, pushing her goggles back on her forehead; the grin she wore was closer to predatory than friendly, like a shark, but Izuku decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and managed half a smile in return, which she seemed to interpret as a _yes_. With a little jump, clapping her hands, she reached back to the metal box on her back and pressed a button; one of the arms flexed, reaching back and pulling what looked like _an entire jetpack_ out of the box before offering it to Kirishima.

"Whoa! This looks awesome! Did you _make_ this?" Without hesitating, he strapped it on, and it activated, tossing him face-first into the turf and dragging him a solid ten feet, leaving a distinct streak of bare earth where his Quirk-empowered face had torn up the grass. "Ow."

"Dumbass."

"Be careful with my baby!" Hatsume shrilled, leaning down and picking up not Kirishima but the jetpack, with Kirishima still attached. "Oh, good, it isn't hurt. Here, take this…"

Ultimately, it was decided that Bakugou would be the rider, Izuku would take left flank, and Hatsume would take right, while Kirishima would take the front, using his Quirk to take the force from Bakugou's explosions; it had taken some persuading, but after convincing the explosive blonde to let the other two on board, he'd directed Izuku to the left, because – and Izuku knew it hurt him to admit it – Izuku's Quirk was powerful enough to provide cover for the right-handed Bakugou.

Hatsume got the short end of the stick, essentially being used for a leg, but she didn't seem to mind.

Kirishima and Hatsume were both equipped with some form of booster to allow them rapid mobility where needed, while Izuku would be relying on his Quirks; Bakugou's blasts could also provide some propulsion if necessary, but their primary focus would be directed at offense.

"Okay. The other teams. It looks like Shouji-kun, Mineta-kun, and Tsuyu-chan are all on a team…Yaoyorozu-san, Iida-kun, Ashido-san and…Sero-kun? Maybe they'll be using Yaoyorozu-san's Quirk to make something like a jousting lance," Izuku muttered, more to himself than his teammates. "But I don't think they'd allow an actual lance…even so, with Iida-kun up front, I can't imagine them using another strategy. They'll probably create a path with Ashido-san's acid and use Sero-kun's tape for some kind of save or stabilization…or maybe to immobilize whoever they're after?"

"Midoriya, you're creeping me out, buddy."

"Sorry, Kirishima-kun. Just thinking." He shot the redhead an apologetic smile that slipped off his face the moment he noticed them.

Todoroki, Kaminari, Tokoyami, and –

"Uraraka-san!?" he hissed aloud. _What kind of team is that!?_ _Are they going to use Uraraka-san's Quirk to make themselves weightless? What's Todoroki-kun going to do? I can't see Kaminari-kun doing anything but shocking people, since he can't control his Quirk very well…but Tokoyami-kun…?_

Izuku had to admit he was stumped. He hadn't seen Dark Shadow in action much and wasn't sure what exactly it was capable of, making Tokoyami "the x factor" in the equation that was Team Todoroki.

"One minute left!" Midnight announced from the stage, and Kirishima inhaled deeply, glancing over at Bakugou, who stood stock-still, staring out at their competitors. Hatsume, meanwhile, made a last-minute adjustment to one of her support items, the steel-armed box long since set aside to reduce her weight.

"I think we shouldn't attack Todoroki-kun's team right away." Izuku spoke aloud this time, directly addressing Bakugou, and the blonde shot him a glare over his shoulder.

"Why the hell not?"

"We know that Todoroki-kun will most likely be using his ice…and Kaminari-kun will be using his electricity in some offensive capacity. I don't think he knows another use for it."

"Charging his cell phone?" Kirishima suggested. Izuku cracked a smile.

"Maybe. But then we have Uraraka-san – " and he nearly choked on her name; _what's wrong with me!?_ " – and Tokoyami-kun. Uraraka-san will probably use her Quirk to make the other three weightless, but I don't know what exactly Dark Shadow is capable of. We haven't seen it much besides its ranged capabilities, and – "

"That birdbrain doesn't stand a goddamn chance against my explosions," Bakugou cut in, voice a low growl. "I thought you were always taking notes on this shit."

"Um, sorry. I haven't been lately. I've been too focused on my training." This wasn't entirely true; while his training _had_ intensified, the thing that left him unable to focus properly during the class sparring sessions was Uraraka's cold shoulder.

"If you shitrags ever paid attention, you'd have noticed that that stupid bird doesn't like light," the other went on. "All I gotta do is _beat the shit out of it_ with my explosions."

"That's a little violent, Kacchan – "

" _What'd you say!?"_

"Um, nothing. But you have to remember Todoroki-kun and Kaminari-kun won't just stand there and watch…we're going to have to pay attention to ice and electricity on top of it. Oh, and Kaminari-kun will be on Todoroki-kun's left. Our right," he added, suddenly, remembering Todoroki's vow not to use his left side.

"How the hell d'you know that?"

"Ah, Todoroki-kun told me he didn't use his left side, so he'll probably put Kaminari-kun there to cover him."

"…Hmph." Evidently satisfied, Bakugou stretched, cracking his arm joints and rolling his neck just as Midnight announced that the event would commence in ten seconds. All around them, groups assembled into their cavalry formations, the most common of these being a triangle with the rider on top, but here and there Izuku spotted an abnormal formation: Shouji with his arms forming a protective barrier around Mineta and Tsuyu on his back, two 1-B students floating on top of some kind of invisible barrier pushed along by two other students, the girl in the back wrapping her vine-like hair protectively around the front of their makeshift vehicle.

"Five!"

Izuku winced as Bakugou settled onto the net of their combined hands like a throne.

"Four!"

Hatsume let out a weird, strangled giggle. Kirishima shot her a look over his shoulder that she missed entirely.

"Three!"

 _Crack._ Bakugou let off a preemptive explosion.

"Two!"

There was a smacking sound from the direction of Shouji, who'd covered his back with his arms. Izuku didn't have to reach far to figure out what had happened.

"One!"

All three of them bent their knees, facing Todoroki's team along with _every other team on the field._

"Go!"

As one, thirty-eight students shot forward like so many rockets, charging for Todoroki's team at varying speeds; Yaoyorozu's team was there first, her brandishing some sort of staff-and-shield combination evidently designed to shove another rider off-balance as Iida skated forward on a carpet of Ashido's acid. Predictably, Todoroki swiped his right arm up, striking the staff with a sweeping curtain of ice that coated the ground and shot up to knock the weapon away from her. Sero retrieved it with his tape, but they were nonetheless forced to take a step back, Ashido slinging acid at the ice wall as they retreated.

" _Alright, shitrag! I'll fuckin' kill you!"_ Bakugou screamed, and as one, Kirishima and Hatsume triggered their boosters, Izuku kicking off hard with One For All on the left; they hurtled forward, but Todoroki was prepared, changing tack and creating a sweeping ramp of ice to his right. To their surprise, Dark Shadow emerged from Tokoyami's chest, digging its claws into the ground and swinging the entire team around its body like a pivot point, throwing them onto the ice; Kaminari took the motion in stride, shifting easily into the casual pose of a skateboarder, while Uraraka slipped awkwardly, nearly falling over, and Tokoyami withdrew Dark Shadow, using it instead to balance them as they slid at high speed around the ramp, flying off the end and landing some fifty meters away, by the edge of the field.

 _So that was their strategy…they're clever._ "We shouldn't underestimate them!" Izuku called. "Maybe we should play defensively, too? We have the second-highest point value, and we're bound to be targeted once they realize we're less of a threat than – "

" _We're less of a threat than Half-and-Half Bastard!?"_ Bakugou snarled, and Izuku realized a few things belatedly. _"I'll show them a goddamn threat, Deku!"_

"So manly!" Kirishima marveled.

One: don't suggest Bakugou settle for anything less than complete and overwhelming victory.

Two: why was he, Izuku, settling for any less than the very best?

" _Young Midoriya…this is your time to shine."_

Maybe it was cliché, maybe it was silly, but he could almost _hear_ the words All Might had said to him – All Might, who'd given him so much, from his time to his Quirk, and who expected Izuku to follow in his footsteps…

 _Kacchan's right,_ he decided. _If we don't shoot for the very top, are we really that driven…?_

"Alright!" he shouted, out loud, and he was oddly satisfied to see the look of surprise on Bakugou's face. "Let's do it!"

"Hey, should we worry about the guys coming for us on the right?" Hatsume's voice interjected, right before a massive bulk barreled into her and almost swept the girl clean off her feet; if it weren't for a set of metal prongs that ejected from her shoulders (nearly smacking Izuku in the face) to form a counterbalance, she'd have definitely fallen and gotten them taken out of the event.

As it stood, Kirishima pivoted on one foot, and Izuku followed suit, rotating their formation ninety degrees to face the new threat with Izuku and Kirishima forming a defensive flank, Bakugou slamming his fists together overhead.

The one who'd hit Hatsume was none other than Satou Rikida, bulked up on his Quirk and looking decidedly more slack-jawed than usual; flanking him were Ojirou Mashirao and a boy who had to stand on tiptoe to support the lavender-haired teen practically _lounging_ across their interwoven arms.

"Huh. Not too bad," came the yawn, and it was exactly what Izuku had been expecting – lazy, drawling, and cocky wrapped up into one bag-eyed bundle. "So this is _the_ Bakugou Katsuki, huh?"

"Shut your goddamn mouth and _die!_ "

"Whoa, buddy, relax – Bakugou-kun?" Kirishima's pause was enough reason for Izuku to shift his gaze from the other rider to their own, and his blood ran cold the moment he did.

The second Bakugou's mouth had closed, he'd gone oddly limp, slack-jawed even if his lips stayed closed, eyes empty; he certainly wasn't _dead_ , but it was also pretty clear that whatever was behind them wasn't Bakugou Katsuki – the fire was out, and he was quiet for once.

"Kacchan?"

The only thing Izuku got in response was the pounding of his own heart in his ears, and in that instant, even the roar of the stadium died to a whisper; the only people there, then, were these eight, Izuku, his team and the other team, and was Bakugou really there at all?

Like clockwork, the blonde pushed himself off of their arms and hands and threw himself to the turf.

Time slowed.

 _What's he doing!?_ Izuku's internal panic was deafening. _If he touches the ground…we're out of the running! I can't let this happen!_

As it turned out, there was no need to worry – by some miracle, Hatsume had fitted Kirishima with his own set of counterbalances, and she had the reflexes to activate them the moment Bakugou toppled, throwing the Hardening hero-in-training forward against his will; Bakugou landed awkwardly across Kirishima's arms and shoulders, but thanks to the wildly gyrating metal arms sticking out of his harness, the redhead managed not to fall, though both Izuku and Hatsume fell victim to a couple of vicious slaps.

More importantly, however, the sudden shock had brought Bakugou back to his senses, and to nobody's surprise, he was pissed; a vehement string of curses slipped out of his mouth, and –

"My, my. Someone ought to teach you to watch your mouth."

"You little – "

Then Bakugou's jaw went slack once more, his eyes emptied again, and Izuku made the connection. The three "horses" below the other boy bore the same expression, gazes blank, and it wasn't difficult to figure out that something about their opponent's Quirk had a memetic effect that allowed him to do _something_ with their minds – what it was exactly, Izuku wasn't entirely sure, but as Bakugou made to throw himself off again, backwards this time, he took a guess: _mind control._ That was the only logical explanation for why Bakugou would try to sabotage their entire team, himself included…and why none of the "horses" had said a word or made a move to attack them.

"Kacchan!" he shouted, lunging to catch his – friend? rival? enemy? whatever they were to one another anymore, but probably not the former – before the blonde hit the ground; once more, the shock of impact jolted Bakugou to his senses, and his features immediately twisted back into sheer, unadulterated rage as he used Izuku's head as a stepping-stone for one hand to claw his way back onto their three-man cavalry horse.

" _What the hell d'you think you're doin', punk!?"_

"Kacchan, stop responding to him!" Izuku cut across Bakugou's screams with one of his own. "Whatever his Quirk is, it's controlling you!"

"I dunno what you're talkin' about, Deku, but – "

"Get ahold of yourself, man!"

Kirishima was the one yelling now; he still stood at the front of their group, still kept a hawk eye on the four in front of them even as most of the other groups launched everything they had at Todoroki's, but there was no doubt that it was Bakugou he addressed.

"Look, if you're not gonna do it for us, at least do it for you. You wanna drop out of this thing?"

Ten feet away, the other rider's smirk widened into a Cheshire cat smile.

 _Is…is he_ enjoying _watching us fight each other?_ The thought made his stomach turn.

Izuku glanced back at Hatsume, whose manic grin hadn't faded the entire time, but he was fairly certain the faraway look in her eyes had less to do with their opponent than whatever was going on in her head.

"Are you sayin' I'd _let_ myself drop out!?"

"You almost did, twice! Listen to me _once_ , okay?"

And, to Izuku's shock, Bakugou nodded.

"Alright. I think Midoriya's caught on to something," Kirishima went on, a toothy smirk of his own spreading across his face. "You just gotta ignore what he says and go in for the kill. Sound good?"

"Sounds fine by me," came the low growl that was Bakugou's reply, and Kirishima stuck up one finger.

"That means don't scream _die!_ "

"Yeah, yeah, hair-for-brains! Deku! Tinkertoys! Get your asses in gear!"

 _Tinkertoys…?_

It took him a second to realize that Bakugou meant Hatsume.

Seeing that they'd stopped squabbling, the other boy sat up just a little straighter, the amusement sliding off his face and slipping into some semblance of wariness; without so much as a word, his three teammates launched themselves forward, charging straight for Kirishima –

"Kirishima-kun! We need to move!" Izuku ordered, but the redhead just crossed his arms, shooting him a cheeky smile.

"Leave it to me, Midoriya. You just watch the left and get ready to turn, 'kay?"

Ojirou's tail, heavy and muscular, came sweeping in as the other three rushed Kirishima down; his forearms, crossed and hardened, bore the brunt of Satou's initial blow, and Izuku couldn't stifle a shout as he brought up his own forearm to block the tail strike, heels digging into the dirt with the force of the blows coming at them.

"Don't get cocky just because you're in the hero course!" came the shout from the other rider, but for once, Bakugou didn't take the bait, lunging in with his signature right hook and reaching up with his left to snatch two of the headbands from beneath the boy's hair; for an instant, Izuku caught a glimpse of the shock on his face, and when Kirishima called out "now!", he yanked Hatsume towards him with his right arm, shoving himself off the ground and against the force of the tail trying hard to knock him off balance, turning the redhead into a pivot point for another ninety degree turn.

"You got a big mouth for an extra, know that?" he heard Bakugou snarl, right before Hatsume activated the boosters she and Kirishima wore and sent them spinning a half-circle around the other group.

They didn't give chase, and the four took a moment to rest and catch their breath, surveying the battlefield; two groups had been disqualified – _probably from that mind control Quirk_ , Izuku thought – while one lurked around the edge of the field, near Yaoyorozu's group as they tried another jousting attack on Todoroki's. The heterochrome had already brought his own brand of renovation to the turf, spiraling ice walls and pillars bursting into their frozen magnificence all around and cordoning off an arena of sorts where no more than two teams could fight comfortably, forcing the rest to fight for the contender spot.

"Hey, Deku," Bakugou growled, and Izuku glanced up. "Think your – your Quirk can melt through half-and-half's ice walls?" He struggled on the phrase "your Quirk", and Izuku figured he could understand why: it was a little difficult accepting that the kid you'd spent your life calling Quirkless actually wasn't.

"I don't think it's strong enough to do that right now." _It could be_ , he added mentally, _but I need to save that power for the next stage of the festival…assuming we even get there. But nobody's gotten our headbands yet, and we're still in an undeniable second place…no, the problem's not making it into the third event. It's making it there in first place._

"Shit. You're still as useless as ever. What about you, Hair-for-Brains? Can you punch through it?"

"There's too much. Can your blasts break it?"

"Hmph. They did back when we were fighting in class…"

"Why don't we try going _over_ the ice instead of through it?" Hatsume cut in. "It would give me a lovely chance to show off my babies!"

"On a practical level, it would also cut off Todoroki-kun's escape routes. He's not using his fire power, and after all this ice, he's bound to be slowing down," Izuku mused. "And I guess Kaminari-kun is probably running low on electricity, too. Kacchan, did you say Tokoyami-kun's Quirk is weak to light?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

More than a little surprised – he couldn't remember Bakugou ever being remotely civil to him; had Kirishima's words actually gotten through to the hotheaded blonde? – Izuku decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. "I was thinking, Kaminari-kun produces a lot of light when he uses his electricity, and he's not exactly in control of it. Kirishima-kun, do you think you could take a shock?"

"Not to worry!" Hatsume interjected, bright as ever. "I've got just the thing!"

And she produced a pair of rubber gloves from her pack.

Izuku and Kirishima both stared, confused, while Bakugou swiveled his head back and forth, furiously attempting to catch a glimpse of whatever it was she had a grip on.

"Here. Put these on your hands," the girl instructed. "They should protect you from the shock if you block it with them."

"Hatsume-san, that's the most sane thing you've provided us with all day," Kirishima muttered, slipping the gloves on; flexing the fingers, he nodded, evidently satisfied, and Bakugou slammed both fists down as if making a point, only he ended up bonking Izuku and Hatsume on the heads.

"Alright, shitrags. We're gonna head up and over that freak's ice wall and hit 'em from up top, got it?"

"Right."

"Right!"

"Only if my babies get time to shine!"

 _Alright, Todoroki-kun…we're coming for you!_

* * *

"So it was Midoriya you chose as your successor."

"Correct."

"He has potential, but don't you think it was a bit much to give One For All to someone with an existing Quirk?"

Toshinori Yagi shrugged. Across from him, Yuuei's principal Nezu – some sort of rodent who'd manifested a Quirk - sipped calmly from a white porcelain teacup, a small pink tongue flicking across his whiskers.

"I thought it was just a Quirk that could repair mortal injuries," Toshinori admitted, sunken eyes scanning the murky depths of his own teacup. "I thought it might serve to mitigate injuries like the one that caused me to start looking for a successor in the first place."

"You were getting older anyway," Nezu pointed out, not unkindly. "If you must pass something down due to age, it's best to do it sooner rather than later in case anything happens to you, yes? Most heroes retire by your age. I can only think of one who hasn't yet, and that's Miss Chuuzenji Shuyo."

"Recovery Girl is a unique circumstance."

"Do you think you are also one?"

Silence. On the television set mounted to the wall, live footage of the Yuuei Academy Summer Sports Festival played, the sound muted; for a moment, both teacher and principal watched as a four-man team shot through the air, arcing over one of the frozen walls that divided the arena.

"I survived this long."

"That doesn't mean you'll keep surviving," came the response, Nezu's tone mild. "Regardless, I'm glad you've found someone who can handle One For All responsibly. But that's not why I called you here."

"I know."

Toshinori's teacup clinked softly as he replaced it upon the saucer.

"You've heard of this 'Cataclysm' villain, correct?"

"Mm."

"Well…the disasters in Yokosuka and Futtsu were not isolated incidents. This we know. But there have been a string of disasters moving northwest from Yokosuka since, and what concerns me is that the earthquakes we're seeing amidst these catastrophes are all along existing fault lines."

"Are you saying they're natural quakes?"

"They're certainly trying to be. But geological research centers list their epicenters as being too shallow. The quakes are originating from locations closer to the surface, shifting the earth's tectonic plates along the existing fault lines and making natural quakes much, much more likely. So even after this villain is identified and taken down, we will have to remain vigilant."

"Why not tell the Hero Council this?"

"I will, shortly. But there's something I've been seeing."

"What's that?"

"It's not entirely consistent, but within several kilometers of each fault line, there has been a hero school. Shiketsu in particular was badly affected, and while nobody was killed, there were numerous injuries, and classes have been suspended due to reconstruction."

Nezu took a long drink of his tea, then cleared his throat, fixing Toshinori with a pair of beady black eyes.

"You changed the weather with a punch once. Do you think you could do it again?"

* * *

" _ **One minute left! Team Todoroki is still in the lead, with Team Bakugou taking up second place!"**_

"I _hate_ this!" Bakugou raged. "It's completely fuckin' unfair that you can only get first place with that bastard's headband!"

"At least we won't need to worry about grabbing the wrong one. They've been so focused on defense that the ten million points is still at the bottom of the headbands," pointed out Izuku. "Hatsume-san, you don't have anything that could grab it for us, do you?"

"No, I don't have a baby like that. Would you like to help me make one?"

He paled. Kirishima burst out laughing as Hatsume fixed Izuku with that signature grin of hers.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Uraraka glaring, but shoved down whatever mixed emotions the sight brought up. They now had less than a minute to take first place – he needed to _focus._

 _Think! Kacchan's explosions are only strong enough to save him from the ice, and not the rest of us…but…if only there were some way I could use One For All without setting off Phoenix…that could blast through the ice, right?_

That was when it hit him. He could do it – he had the ability to channel One For All through specific parts of his body, didn't he? So why couldn't he simply use the smallest possible point of force…?

"Kacchan! Kirishima-kun! Hatsume-san!" he shouted, and two of the three he'd named snapped to attention at the tone of his voice. "I can get through Todoroki-kun's ice. We have to approach him on the right side to make this work, though!"

"I thought you said don't approach his right?" Kirishima cut in, but Hatsume corrected him.

"He never said that! Besides, I'm curious to see how these babies stand up to cold."

"They're just rubber gloves!"

Hatsume didn't respond with anything but another terrifying smile.

"It's okay, Kirishima-kun," chuckled Izuku, giving the redhead's hand a reassuring (and decidedly manly!) squeeze. "What I'm thinking is that when I break through the ice he'll send at us, Tokoyami-kun and Kaminari-kun will both attempt to defend the headbands, but Kaminari-kun's electricity will produce light and weaken Dark Shadow enough for Kacchan to knock it out of the way with a blast. As for Uraraka-san…" _I hate to admit this, but…_ "She's only going to be there for her Quirk. Without Todoroki-kun's ice, their right flank is their weakest point."

"What, are we just gonna charge right in?" Bakugou yelled (Kirishima tried frantically to shush him, but thankfully Yaoyorozu's team had just taken another shot at Todoroki's, this time using their own strategy against them with Sero's tape, Ashido's acid and Iida's engines forming a similar pivoting slip-and-slide to try and flank them).

"That's the plan of action. We might as well do it sooner rather than later."

" **Thirty seconds remaining!"** Present Mic announced, and Izuku's teammates nodded, even Bakugou.

" _Then let's fucking do this!"_

While Todoroki remained distracted, the three of them took off for Uraraka at a run, Izuku curling his hand into a fist with the tip of his middle finger braced against his thumbpad; they weren't exactly being quiet, considering Bakugou's battle-cry and the way explosions popped and crackled up his arms, and the gravity girl noticed them, shouting with alarm and turning Todoroki's attention their way.

The heterochrome's eyes widened – in his adrenaline-fueled bubble of frozen time, Izuku could see it plain as day – but he didn't falter, bringing up his frost-covered right arm once more to strike them with a wave of ice –

" _Smaaaaaaash!"_

Izuku grit his teeth so hard he felt he might have cracked one; pain lanced up his broken finger, but his attack had gone as planned, a piercing shot of incredibly powerful wind pressure shattering Todoroki's ice wave into thousands of glittering shards and forcing his team to brace themselves.

" _Now, Kirishima-kun!"_

"You got it!"

Dark Shadow reared to attack, and as Izuku had expected, lightning crackled and arced around its side, but Kirishima crossed his arms, the gloves mitigating most of the shock for him even as he grunted with the impact. Dark Shadow struck next, but as Izuku had predicted, it was weakened by the light of Kaminari's attack, and Bakugou's explosions were enough to drive it back, allowing them to break through the other team's front line and bringing Bakugou within arm's reach of Todoroki.

Just as he made a grab for the ten million, however, a second hand – slender, fair and smooth – grabbed onto the cloth, and in Bakugou's sweat-drenched palm, the headband slipped right through, letting Yaoyorozu tug it free with ease.

 _No…_

While they'd been distracted, her team had made one last charge, taking advantage of Todoroki's distraction the same way Izuku's team had taken advantage of the distraction _her_ team had made, darting in to snatch the spoils from the jaws of either combatant.

" _ **Ten seconds remaining!"**_

" _You – bastards!"_

With a scream of fury, Bakugou launched himself from their human vehicle, and in their shock, all three members could only gape at him as he propelled himself at Yaoyorozu on his blasts; she brought up a shield to protect herself as he reached her, but his assault was too furious, his movements too rapid, and the shield clattered away across the turf as he clawed like an animal for the headband, blasting his way off of her the moment he'd retrieved it and shooting backwards into the air just as Hatsume, managing to keep her head, pressed a button on the remote for her and Kirishima's boosters, dragging their group forward and jolting them out of their shock in time to catch the falling Bakugou, who slowed his fall with well-timed blasts that left Kirishima's hair singed and smoking.

" _ **Tiiiiiime's up!"**_

Izuku could only stare up at Bakugou's back as he raised both hands, tilted his head back, and let out a triumphant scream for the heavens, the ten million point headband dangling from one fist.

 _That…worked. It worked. We took first. We did it._ He could hardly believe it – his plan had worked, Kirishima had held the front, Bakugou's speed had saved their prize, and Hatsume's quick thinking had stopped them from being disqualified.

" _ **And in first place, Team Bakugou: Bakugou Katsuki, Kirishima Ejirou, Hatsume Mei, and Midoriya Izuku!"**_

Izuku, Kirishima and Hatsume let Bakugou down from their shoulders, stretched their aching limbs, and laughed brighter than the sun.

* * *

 **Feedback is always appreciated. Thank you for reading.**


	13. Chapter 13

**I've never read Viridescent, but I just gave it a poke and the first chapter reminds me of how this story started off. Now I'm worried people think I plagiarized, haha.**

 **I know this was a pretty quick update, but by the time I got around to what's now the ending of this chapter, it had already run on for five thousand words and having every event packed into one chapter was just not what I wanted, so I decided to use this one as more or less an intermission - and to clue you folks in on what exactly I have planned.**

* * *

"Jeez, that was rough," Kirishima yawned, hands behind his head as he, Bakugou, Izuku and Hatsume made their way back to the lockers and rest area. "But so _manly!_ "

"Shut up, Hair-for-Brains," Bakugou shot back, but it was half-hearted, and he still wore a wicked grin; even _he_ couldn't quite bring himself to be in a foul mood after such an absolute victory.

"I'm not hearing any 'thank you's for letting you use my babies," grumbled Hatsume, but like Bakugou, her heart wasn't in the complaint. "Oh well. The _real_ spotlight's still ahead of us!"

"Oh yeah…the tournament." Idly, Izuku flexed the finger he'd broken with One For All; Recovery Girl had come out onto the field to provide first aid to students who'd been injured, including him, but he still expected a stab of pain every time he moved it.

"It'll be sixteen of us, right?" Kirishima pushed open the door to the rest area, holding it for Bakugou, Hatsume and Izuku, only the last of whom thanked him (though in Hatsume's case, she wore a faraway expression and likely hadn't even noticed the door in the first place). "So that's…four full teams. But I think Shouji-kun's group got in, so - "

"No. We didn't." Shouji himself spoke up from the bench next to the door, and Izuku and Kirishima paused to glance his way. "While we were distracted by Hitoshi, someone stole the bandanas right out from under my arms."

"Oh, damn. I'm sorry to hear that, man," Kirishima murmured, and Izuku got the impression that the redhead was sincere. "Bad luck, huh?"

"Not luck. We were caught unawares." The tip of the arm he spoke through sagged, as if dejected, and Shouji's gaze drifted past them, pensive. "It doesn't matter. If Todoroki-kun is in the tournament, I don't think anyone besides Bakugou even stands a chance. None of us were able to defeat him during our sparring sessions."

"Hey, you never know!" Kirishima declared, face breaking into the widest grin Izuku had seen on him yet.

 _You have to admire his ability to stay cheerful,_ Izuku mused. _He knows he wouldn't be able to win against Todoroki-kun either…_

"Besides, even if you lose, what matters is if you shot for the top or not, right? That's why we went for him even though we pretty much had a guaranteed spot in the finals anyway, with Bakugou-kun and Midoriya-kun here. _Plus ultra,_ yeah?"

Shouji stared at Kirishima's enthusiastic fist-pump for just a moment before the face-mask he wore shifted (was he _smiling?_ ) and he returned the gesture.

"Plus ultra. I could learn something from you two."

Bidding their classmate farewell, Izuku and Kirishima headed for the refreshments, pointedly ignoring Mineta's wails from the direction of the boys' locker rooms as they passed.

"Hey, guys," Kaminari hailed them, strolling up beside them as they reached the table. "Looking forward to the next event?"

"Hell yeah!" Kirishima cheered, but –

" _ **In fifteen minutes, we will be starting the third and final event of the Yuuei Academy Summer Sports Festival."**_ Midnight's amplified dulcet tones rumbled through the break room's walls as her message played over the loudspeakers both inside and in the stadium. _**"Contestants will find the bracket for the one-on-one tournament displayed on the monitor at the front of the break room. For our viewers both here and at home, here it is!"**_

Nothing happened inside, and Izuku figured they'd displayed it on one of the massive screens in the stadium. A moment later, the LCD display hanging on the wall flickered, displaying sixteen names connected by a neatly structured web of lines and angles leading up to an image of a crown.

 _Midoriya_ and _Iida_.

 _Uraraka_ and _Hitoshi._

 _Kirishima_ and _Kaminari._

 _Shiozaki_ and _Todoroki._

 _Kendou_ and _Bakugou._

 _Satou_ and _Sero._

 _Ashido_ and _Tokoyami._

 _Hatsume_ and _Yaoyorozu._

"These don't add up," Izuku murmured. "When they announced the winners, neither a Kendou or a Shiozaki were named…."

"Shouda-kun and I dropped out," called a voice from somewhere to their right, and they turned to spot Ojirou making his way towards the table, the tip of his tail twitching irritably.

"Oh, hey, Ojirou-kun." Kirishima greeted their tailed classmate with a hearty clap on the back, and Ojirou responded with a small, self-deprecating smile. "Why'd ya drop out?"

"Ah. Do you remember the rider for our team?" the other asked, quietly, expression serious.

"That purple-headed shitrag?" came a growl from their left, and Izuku, Kirishima and Ojirou whipped around to see none other than Bakugou fetching a drink from the cooler. "Hope Round Face kicks his ass," the blonde snapped, and like that, he was gone, heading for a solitary seat in the corner.

"…Yes, the one with the purple hair," Ojirou continued, as if the question had come from someone actually involved in the conversation. "Hitoshi Shinsou."

 _Hitoshi…so that's the guy Uraraka-san's up against?_

"His Quirk…I don't recall most of the cavalry battle," the martial artist admitted. "I don't know how we obtained the score that we did. I don't even know if I had any part in it. Shouda-kun feels the same. And everyone I've spoken to who was disqualified says that they or their rider evidently forfeited the event after encountering this boy."

"So…it's an honor thing?" Kirishima prodded, and Ojirou dipped his head; Izuku, thinking furiously, kept silent and listened.

"More or less. I would not want to profit from something I did not earn."

"That's so _manly!_ "

Izuku couldn't stifle a laugh.

Just then, Uraraka approached the cooler, retrieving a drink for herself before moving around the outside of their little assembly to grab a snack.

"Hey, um, Uraraka-san," he spoke up, deciding to take the risk; he knew she'd been avoiding him for whatever reason, and he was trying to give her whatever space it was she needed, but this was important, right? "The first opponent you're up against – "

"Stop, Midoriya-kun."

Her tone was soft, her words few, but to Izuku, they cut like the hard edges of a thousand knives.

 _Midoriya-kun._ She'd _never_ called him that before. On top of that, she'd denied his offer of information, even though it was on an opponent she knew nothing about…

It _hurt._

As Uraraka paced away, not looking at him, the other two stared.

"Did something, uh, happen between you two?"

"…I don't know, Kirishima-kun," Izuku sighed. The honest answer was _yes_ , but he wasn't sure _what_ had happened in the first place.

"I don't pay attention to Ashido-san's gossip and even I've noticed something is going on," Ojirou admitted, to Izuku's surprise; he hadn't gotten the impression that the quiet Ojirou cared much for others' affairs. "She was out on Monday, and ever since she got back I haven't seen you two so much as speak. You've been practically joined at the hip since the first week, so of course people would notice."

Izuku glared down at his shoes. _So other people noticed, huh…?_

"Yeah, she always looked super happy whenever you two were together," Kirishima mused. "Maybe that's why she looks unhappy now? I don't think I've seen her smile all week."

The drink was cold, but it wasn't why Izuku's teeth had started to chatter.

As much as he didn't want to, he remembered the near-kiss, the feel of it, the feel of _her_ , and –

"Midoriya-kun? You're spacing out." A hand flashed to and fro before his eyes, and Izuku jumped, snapping to attention; in front of him, Kirishima and Ojirou met his stare with looks of concern.

"Oh, ah, sorry. I was just…thinking," he finished, lamely, but from the way they exchanged glances, he knew he hadn't convinced them of anything.

Before either could speak, however –

" _ **Five minutes remaining before the first battle of the one-on-one tourney. Would Midoriya Izuku and Iida Tenya please make their way to the preparation rooms?"**_

"That's you, buddy." Kirishima clapped him on the back, showing pointed teeth in a sharp smile, then leaned in, whispering for only Izuku to hear: "Hey, man. If you need to talk about anything, I promise I'll keep it between us. Try not to think about Uraraka-san too much during the fight, okay?"

"A-alright." He had to admit – as ditzy as Kirishima could sometimes be, he'd shown himself to be dependable today as both a teammate and a friend.

"Good luck, man."

"Thanks, you guys." – and Midoriya Izuku managed a smile before setting off for the prep room at a jog.

* * *

Being the first up on stage is always terrifying, and this was no exception. With no precedent or guide, Izuku simply followed the hallway from the prep room, heading in the general direction of the arena; he knew Midnight would be announcing the start of their fight any second now – and then he threw open a door that let in a blinding stream of sunlight and a deafening surge of noise, disorienting him.

 _No doubt about it, this is the arena._

Shaking his head to clear it, green curls bouncing, he set off for the concrete rectangle in the middle – the "ring", though it was nowhere near a circle – at a jog, shoes crunching on dry, close-cropped turf; across from him, he spotted Iida already standing at attention at the opposite end, glasses glinting in the sunlight.

"Iida-kun!" he hailed his friend and erstwhile rival, and for the first time in a while, his grin was true. Unlike Uraraka, facing off against Iida held no emotional baggage; Iida had made it clear that he bore no ill will towards Izuku, and to be frank, Izuku didn't even think Iida was _capable_ of concealing his feelings – he was too honest, too earnest, and he supposed that was one of the reasons he liked the Engine Quirk user.

"Midoriya-kun! Good afternoon!" Iida returned, as if it were any other day, and they weren't about to fight for supremacy in full view of thousands of people.

"I see you boys are playing nice down there!" called Midnight from her position on the announcers' stand, the stage from earlier having mysteriously disappeared (though Izuku had a feeling it was one of the many components on this field that were built on a system of mechanized panels, allowing an operator to restructure the inner stadium at will). "Ready to rough it up?"

 _Why do I feel like there's a hidden meaning behind that sentence!?_

"I am indeed ready to rough things up!" Iida declared, and Izuku pinched the bridge of his nose. This wasn't the first time he'd taken a statement at face value with no thought for innuendo; Ashido in particular preyed on this, and Iida was never quite able to comprehend why exactly everyone but him was giggling.

"Um…I guess I'm ready too, then."

And so, in typical Yuuei style, Midnight announced the start of their match with nary so much as a countdown:

" _ **Match one of the Yuuei Academy Summer Sports Festival Tourney: Midoriya Izuku versus Iida Tenya! Begin!"**_

Just like he'd done during his fight against Yaoyorozu for class representative, Iida started off strong, rushing Izuku at top speed with his engines burning hot, but Izuku had been expecting this and darted forward, twisting to the side and standing strong against the wind from Iida's charge.

 _Iida-kun's fast…but he runs out of fuel eventually! As long as I can avoid getting hit, he should slow down the longer this fight drags on, right?_

He figured Iida had to have refueled between the cavalry battle and their fight – he'd been too caught up with Kirishima and Ojirou to talk to his friend – and as such, he was likely operating at peak performance; Izuku also had no idea just how fuel-efficient Iida's engines were, and he wasn't certain he could hold out that long without being hit.

As Iida rushed him again, he leapt up and over, One For All's green sparks crackling along his legs.

 _Since he hasn't changed his fighting style, it might be possible to pull the same trick Yaoyorozu-san used on him –_

" _Recipro Burst!"_

"What the – !?"

If Iida had been fast before, it was _nothing_ compared to this new speed; all Izuku could see of his friend was a blinding blur of aqua light, burning blue streaks across his retinas, and he braced himself – but then Iida seized him around the middle, _dragging_ him across the field, and his eyes bulged for just a moment before he realized something. _Iida's strength…_

" _I am sorry, Midoriya-kun! But as I stated, we are rivals on the field of battle!"_

"I'm sorry too, Iida-kun."

… _lies in his legs, not his arms!_

Right before they reached the edge of the ring, Izuku used the force of five percent One For All to break Iida's grip on him, shoving the Engine Quirk user's arms away like they were made of paper –

" _Detroit…_ _ **Smash!**_ _"_

He didn't hit Iida directly – he swiped one fist down, as he'd done during the Quirk Apprehension Test, feeling the gusts buffeting his face die in a heartbeat as he struck the ground hard, but the concrete was far too durable for him to make a smooth landing and he slid, grinding the soles of his shoes away and ripping the skin off of his knuckles, the top of his fingers, his hand burning and stinging – and then he fell, tumbling awkwardly across the ground, and Iida tripped over him, and the entire match ended in complete confusion as Izuku twisted sideways to faceplant into the edge of the ring and Iida sailed spectacularly through the air, landing squarely on the yellow-green of the turf outside the ring.

" _ **And the winner is…Midoriya Izuku!"**_

Midnight's declaration rung true, but to Izuku, there was no glory in it – he'd won by _total accident,_ tripping his friend by complete mistake as he tried to stop himself and regain the upper hand.

 _Talk about luck…sometimes I feel like the main character in a manga._

To his surprise, Iida started laughing.

"Midoriya-kun," he yelled, over the roar of the crowd, taking measured steps back towards the green-haired victor (whose mind was still working a mile a minute, trying to process what had just happened). "Well-played. I can't say I was expecting that!"

"I can't, either," Izuku admitted, tucking a hair into the hair at the back of his head, self-consciously; he felt sweat trickle down his scalp and immediately thought _I'm gonna need a long shower after this is over._ "Sorry for that. You'd have probably won if I hadn't fallen over."

"Well! Next time we match, try not to fall over, Midoriya-kun."

Iida seemed to be taking this in remarkably good spirits; as they walked back to the break room, and between Recovery Girl greeting Izuku halfway across the turf to heal his bruised and skinned knuckles, Izuku grilled him on the move he'd used, "Recipro Burst", to which Iida responded with some surprise.

"You didn't see me use it during our sparring sessions?" he asked, and Izuku shrugged, stepping through the break room door into the artificial cool and gleaming tiles. Kirishima and Ojirou were still talking, though they'd moved to one of the painted-wood benches, and they waved to the two now fetching another pair of drinks from the cooler before they made their way over to the duo.

"That was intense!" Kirishima thundered, his grin as wild as his hairstyle, inadvertently activating his Quirk and crushing the water bottle in his hand.

Ojirou was more subdued. "I admit, I thought Iida-kun had the upper hand there."

"Yo, Midoriya-kun!" hailed Kaminari, strolling over with Ashido, Sero, a floating tracksuit that was presumably Hagakure Tooru, Jirou, and Yaoyorozu, the latter two of whom appeared slightly bored; Jirou crossed her arms, watching the ceiling, while Yaoyorozu shot a hopeful glance toward a corner. Following her gaze, Izuku spotted Todoroki, sitting by himself, sculpting something with his Quirk, and when his eyes found Yaoyorozu again, Izuku noted a faint tinge to her cheeks that hadn't been there before and wondered if she was falling ill.

"Oh, uh, hey, Kaminari-kun. What's up?" He wasn't so sure Tooru or Jirou were allowed in the break room, considering that they weren't competing, but it certainly wasn't hurting anything; if anything, it made the room feel a little livelier amidst the other students. The rest of 1-A, the ones who hadn't gotten into the final round, had dispersed, and Bakugou, Todoroki and Tokoyami had each taken separate corners. The two 1-B students who'd gotten in sat together, talking quietly, while Hitoshi – the purple-haired, bag-eyed boy who Izuku could only presume was from the general course, as he hadn't seen him with 1-B during the opening ceremonies – occupied the remaining corner.

"Ahh, nothing. Just thought that was a great trick you pulled out there!"

"Trick?" Izuku echoed.

"Yeah! Using a slapstick move like that to throw off poor Iida-kun and win the match, that was smart!"

"Um, Kaminari-kun, that was an accident."

"I _told_ you it was an accident, dumbass!" Jirou snapped, jabbing Kaminari with one of her jacks, but her tone was more playful than vicious, and Kaminari only grinned the wider. It reminded Izuku just a little of Hitoshi's Cheshire Cat smile, only there was no malice in it.

"Hey, are you saying Midoriya-kun's not smart enough to pull off a trick like that?" he shot back, and Jirou crossed her arms again, pointedly looking the opposite direction.

Kirishima and Ashido snickered.

"So, next up is Uraraka-san, correct?" Iida put in, glancing past the others at the monitor above the refreshments table and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Yes, Uraraka-san and…Hitoshi," Yaoyorozu confirmed, spontaneously producing a pair of reading glasses on her own face with her Quirk so she could see the screen, which still displayed the tourney bracket, only Izuku's name had moved up to the second round. "Is that…?"

"That's him," Ojirou confirmed, before Yaoyorozu could finish. "In the corner."

"How exactly did he get in?" she mused. "Do we know his Quirk?"

Just then, Iida's phone rang, and he excused himself to take the call.

"We _think_ it's mind control of some sort," Izuku replied, clasping his chin with forefinger and thumb. "Ojirou-kun says he doesn't remember anything that happened after this Hitoshi guy asked him a question during team formation. And Kacchan started trying to throw himself onto the ground whenever he'd start yelling during the last event."

"The almighty Kacchan trying to forfeit?" Kaminari gasped, clutching a hand to his chest. "That kid must be scary."

"Aren't you worried about 'Chako-chan, though?" Ashido prodded, both figuratively and literally as she jabbed a finger into Izuku's shoulder, snapping her bubblegum.

"Do that again and I'll pop it all over your face," Jirou threatened, but Ashido didn't respond, too focused on her prey – Izuku, nervous, stared back, eyes wide, as a toothy grin that could only be described as _sinister_ spread across her lips.

"What kinda question is that?" Kirishima interjected, loudly. "Of course he's worried. They're best friends."

"Doesn't seem like it lately!" she teased back, voice singsong.

Izuku looked away.

"Mina-san." The redhead's voice went uncharacteristically quiet.

She stopped.

"Sorry," murmured Ashido, sobered.

"It's okay. You didn't know," Izuku responded, but his words sounded hollow, sounded empty. He winced.

"So, um, really, though. Are you two, like, okay?" she went on, turning down the volume tenfold so that only Izuku could hear and dropping onto the bench next to him. He glanced over to where Uraraka stood by the exit, watching the unchanging screen, hands in her pockets.

"…I don't know anymore, Ashido-san."

"Call me Mina. Everyone does."

"Ah, if it's okay with you, Mina-san."

Kirishima leaned in closer, worried.

"Shouldn't you guys be worrying about Uraraka-san?" Izuku asked, suddenly, sitting upright.

" _ **Five minutes remains before the second battle of the tourney. Will Uraraka Ochako and Hitoshi Shinsou please report to the preparation rooms?"**_

Wordlessly, one after another, both of the mentioned students exited the break room, and the group gathered around Izuku, Iida, Ojirou and Kirishima turned their attention back to the former member.

"He's got a point," Ojirou put in. "Uraraka-san's been very disturbed lately."

"I tried talking to her," Tooru sighed, the sleeves of her tracksuit dangling limply in midair like some grotesque puppet. "But she just brushed me off. She's only talked to Tsuyu-chan lately, and that girl would carry someone's business to her grave even if it hurt them!"

"Tooru-chan, be nice!" Mina quipped, sticking her tongue out. "But it's true Tsuyu-chan's not one to tell even if someone needs help…"

"This might be my fault."

All eyes found Izuku.

"When I went to go see her after school last Monday," he began, slowly, as if tasting each word, "she was…upset." _That's an understatement,_ some snarky little piece of his brain snapped. "I…I don't know if I should be telling any of you this, but her parents were in Yokosuka when the fissure hit."

The response was to be expected – gasps, horrified stares. Tooru even shrieked – at least, he thought it was her, because he didn't see anyone else's mouth move, and the odds of Bakugou, Todoroki, or Tokoyami making such a noise were low at best.

" _What?"_

"She hid that from us?"

"So she's been…?"

"I'm sorry!" he shouted, squeezing his eyes shut tight. "She…she only told me. It was the day we went downtown. Iida-kun, Yaoyorozu-san, and Tsuyu-san were with us, but she didn't say anything at all until we were alone. I tried to help her, and I…I thought…"

"No one's blaming you, Midoriya-kun," Kirishima offered gently, leaning forward across the space between their benches to give his shoulder a squeeze. "Usually, if someone tells you a problem, it's not very manly to go spreading it around unless you think they're in some kind of danger and they need help."

Izuku raised his head, meeting Kirishima's eyes through a blur of fresh tears. The redhead managed a little smile.

"Yeah, we're not upset with you," Mina reaffirmed, nudging him in the side. "Just…worried about Ochako-chan. You two are probably closer with each other than anyone else here, so when we saw that you weren't talking…well, I mighta joked about it, but…you both seemed so unhappy."

Izuku chuckled.

"I'd rather you joke about it then worry too much about me," he told her, and Kirishima's grip turned into a light punch.

"Don't talk like that about yourself, man. I know we've only been a class for about a month and a half, but after that attack at the USJ…we gotta look out for each other. We're in this for the long haul, dude."

"Kirishima-kun…"

He wasn't really sure what to say; rarely had anyone been so kind to him, and he could never remember having friends anything like 1-A. Even the classmates he didn't regularly interact with seemed to care about him just as much as they did each other, and he began to sob openly, feeling as if his heart might just burst with emotion.

Mid-cry, however, the loudspeaker crackled on.

" _ **Match two of the Yuuei Academy Summer Sports Festival Tourney: Uraraka Ochako versus Hitoshi Shinsou! Begin!"**_

Izuku hurried to wipe away his tears and twisted his head around to see the screen; around him, the others did the same, and even Bakugou glanced up from his corner.

There they were, Uraraka's brown bob a starkly traditional contrast from Hitoshi's purple spikes, standing roughly fifty feet apart at opposite ends of the arena. Izuku could hear a shout – Hitoshi, no doubt, trying to bait Uraraka into whatever trick his Quirk operated on, but his voice met with silence as Uraraka began to advance, slowly at first, walking, then a fast-walk, then a jog, then a full-on sprint as she ran right for him.

When he raised a hand to try and stop her, Uraraka simply clasped his wrist, triggering a brief pink glow that Izuku knew immediately was her Quirk – and he knew, just as immediately, that Hitoshi Shinsou had never stood a ghost of a chance against Uraraka as she was now.

With one spin, she whirled the baffled Hitoshi around and threw him bodily from the ring, releasing her Quirk and causing him to skid awkwardly along the grass, tearing up dirt, and just like that, the match was over.

"… _ **And the winner of the second match is Uraraka Ochako!"**_ Midnight sounded just as shocked as Izuku was sure the entire audience _felt_ , but inside, he felt it again, that little glow of _pride_ he'd sensed when he'd spotted her using her Quirk for more than just floating objects during the obstacle race, and even if it was bittersweet, he clung to it like a lifeline.

"…That was pretty manly," Kirishima admitted, after a moment's silence, and the tension in the room cracked, fractured, broke like glass and shattered in a peal of laughter that wasn't sure if it was nervous or not.

Uraraka's bow was a little stiff, and the last shot they had of her before the tourney bracket flickered back onto their display was of her expression as she set off for the break room at a brisk trot: determined, a little frustrated, and more closed-off than Izuku had ever seen it.

He looked away from the screen, but not before his brain had registered one thing.

 _Round two, match one: Midoriya Izuku versus Uraraka Ochako._

* * *

For Izuku, the rest of the first round flew by in a blur. Kirishima and Kaminari were up next, and after a protracted fight in which Kirishima essentially charged headlong into Kaminari's blasts until the latter ran out of electricity and had to surrender, Todoroki went up against the green-haired girl from 1-B, Shiozaki Ibara. She'd evidently displayed some power during the obstacle race, and as her hair – comprised of thick vines – shot down and punched through the concrete under her feet, Izuku knew she wasn't someone to be taken lightly…unless, of course, you were Todoroki, who almost casually touched the ground with his right foot and almost immediately coated the entire ring in a thick layer of densely packed ice that crawled at lightning speed towards Shiozaki, freezing her in place and rendering Todoroki the victor in less than ten seconds.

"These matches have really gone by quick, huh?" Kaminari commented, lounging across one of the unoccupied benches. "It's only been half an hour and we're already on round five."

Match five, which consisted of Bakugou getting smacked around by one Kendou Itsuka, the red-haired girl with the ponytail who'd been talking to Shiozaki, for a solid five minutes; her Quirk was simple and a little on the strange side, serving only to enlarge her hands to an incredible size, but it was certainly effective at shielding her from his blasts and allowing her to swat at him like some overgrown fly. In the end, however, Bakugou refused to be cowed, and as the strength of his blasts only increased the more he sweated, he grew progressively stronger until Kendou miscalculated and he went barreling into her, past her hands, slamming her out of the ring.

"Damn, I actually thought she might beat him for a few minutes there," Mina sighed, hands on her hips, and Shiozaki, standing in silence next to the pink-skinned girl, bowed her head.

"That's a shame. We were 1-B's only representatives, you know. The rest of us chose to follow Monoma-kun's approach and remain in second place."

Mina jumped; evidently, she hadn't even noticed Shiozaki. "Oh, um, hiya," she stammered, blinking awkwardly, then recovered: "Nice talking to one of you guys without Bakugou-kun in the way! But uh, whatcha mean by that?"

As Mina and Shiozaki chatted, the door slammed open, and Bakugou stormed in, followed shortly by Kendou, who closed it neatly behind her.

"Well, I tried," she huffed, to nobody in particular, and Kaminari waved her over (Jirou scowled at him).

"Hey! You're in the hero course too, come say hi!"

"Everyone's being really friendly to 1-B all of a sudden," Izuku noted.

"Maybe they feel bad for them," Ojirou suggested. "Todoroki-kun and Bakugou are pretty much two of the strongest students in the school, if not the strongest. It'll most likely be them in the finals – no offence to you or Uraraka-san, Midoriya-kun."

"None taken," Izuku chuckled.

Match six was two 1-A students, Satou versus Sero, and ultimately Sero pulled through, using his tape to immobilize Satou by dodging his attacks and wrapping another loop around him, gradually lessening his control until Satou could no longer move.

Match seven was Mina versus Tokoyami, and though she tried her hardest to close the distance, fighting Tokoyami in a one-on-one was effectively futile; Dark Shadow proved to be both stronger than Mina and completely immune to her acid due to its body composition, and it ended up forcing her practically to her knees before she surrendered the match, utterly exhausted. To his credit, Tokoyami helped her up, then allowed her to lean on him as they returned to the break room.

"You fought well," he commended her, in his usual quiet fashion. "Dark Shadow hasn't been that challenged in some time."

Yaoyorozu crossed her arms and looked away; she'd had an even harder time with the bird-headed teen's Quirk than Mina had during sparring.

The eighth and final match consisted of Yaoyorozu herself versus Hatsume, who hadn't even been in the break room; from his brief impression of her, Izuku had a feeling she was the type to immediately return to the support class workshop whenever possible. Still, she was punctual, and to the embarrassment of everyone, she spent the entire match dancing just out of Yaoyorozu's reach with the aid of the various inventions she'd stuffed into her pack (which she stated, via megaphone, was equipped with ultracompression technology – whatever that was, though Izuku was fairly certain it explained how she fit _so much_ into it), essentially running a fifteen-minute advertisement for her own services before stepping calmly out of the ring and leaving Yaoyorozu the victor by default, albeit an incredibly flustered victor.

Todoroki handed her a tiny ice sculpture of a dog when she returned and quite suddenly she was flustered for a very different reason.

… _Did Todoroki-kun just do something nice for someone?_ Izuku wondered, then felt extremely rude, though deep down he knew he was right to question what he'd just seen. Todoroki had been nothing but cold, aloof, and blunt for the entire duration they'd known one another, and though he'd thawed somewhat towards Izuku after the incident at the USJ, he too had been even more closed-off than usual lately, though Izuku had a feeling it was for reasons entirely separate from Uraraka's.

He didn't even notice his name being called until Kirishima gave him a rough nudge on the shoulder.

"Midoriya. They're calling you and Uraraka-san."

"Oh! Sorry. Thanks, Kirishima-kun." He turned to leave, to follow Uraraka out of the door, but -

"Hey." Kirishima's tone was enough to make Izuku stop and twist around, blinking innocently at the redhead, and he went on: "We'll be watching, alright?"

"Yeah!" Mina chirped, pumping one fist. "We'll be cheering for both of you!"

"Hey! Maybe you two can duke out your – _ouch!_ "

"Shut up, idiot! Don't be so loud about it!" Jirou hissed at Kaminari, who she'd just jabbed rather sharply with one of her jacks.

"…Thanks, you guys."

With one final sigh, Izuku marched off towards his fate. Only time, and a very small amount of it, would tell just how this fight would go down – but, for the first time, Izuku wasn't sure he'd go down fighting.

Something told him this battle would be a lot more than simply physical combat.

* * *

 **Hooray for one hell of a hackjob of a chapter.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Y'know, writing's been pretty hard for me lately. Or, rather,** _ **decent**_ **writing.**

 **Credit to Canadaman for the name of Phoenix's "full cowl". I was having a pretty rough time thinking of something simple but definitive.  
**

* * *

Blood cold, nerves hot, brain speeding, feet dragging.

He didn't want this. He didn't want things to go this way. He'd never wanted them to go this way –

 _Relax, Izuku. It's not like either of you asked for this. You're just in a prearranged match in an organized tournament. It's not some kind of divine fate._

Then, that awful, horrible last question, a single word that holds in its letters all the doubt there ever was:

… _Right?_

He watched his hands shake, tracing the scarred skin of his recently-broken finger with his eyes, then dropped them to grip his knees, hard.

 _Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick._

The wall-mounted clock didn't even _need_ to make the sounds it was making, considering it was fully electronic. Izuku was fairly certain it had been put there solely to give him anxiety, the LEDs glaring an angry red at him from across a silent room.

He shivered. The air conditioner blasted at full power in the prep rooms, but considering how cold he already felt…

He retched. Had he eaten something bad? No, he'd eaten nothing different lately.

He clutched his stomach, doubling over, his whole body shaking.

 _Think, Izuku. Think,_ he instructed himself, trying to organize the screaming mess of his thoughts, but he could barely form a coherent sentence. _The match. How is Uraraka-san going to fight?_

It hit him that he had no idea how she fought aside from trying to activate her Quirk on someone and incapacitate them, and he couldn't help but feel like a terrible friend. Had he really not noticed that?

Had he even really seen her fight? Wasn't _this_ , _now_ her fight?

 _No,_ said a voice in his head that was his and not, some sharper other Izuku who understood Uraraka better than he did. _She's been fighting for much longer than this festival._

 _What?_ he asked it. _What do you mean?_

"Hey, Midoriya," called Midnight's voice, and he glanced up to see the heroine leaning against the doorframe in her usual skintight costume, striking a seductive pose against the black of the hallway outside (he was pretty sure she didn't even mean to behave that way at this point; she'd been an R-rated hero so long that it was simply second nature). "You ready?"

"Oh, u-um, y-yeah," he got out, and for the first time, he experienced the purest form of stutter, his jaw clattering uncontrollably as he tried to speak and chopping the words apart like a jackhammer.

Midnight raised one penciled eyebrow, but didn't say anything further, pushing herself to a standing position with her upper arm and turning on her heel to stride from the room.

Distinctly uncomfortable, Izuku rose and made his way through the halls again, the route familiar this time, retracing the steps he'd taken before his match with Iida and finding the door to the arena in half the time.

Not that his new record made opening that door any easier. He knew what he'd find out there.

Shaking steps in summer heat led Midoriya Izuku to face Uraraka Ochako across fifty feet of painted concrete, its bleached, artificial lines putting up artificial barriers between artificial façades.

Izuku, clenching his jaw so hard he thought he'd crack a tooth, trying to keep his nerves from showing and his breakfast in his stomach.

Uraraka, looking not quite _at_ him but rather at his shoulder with those dull eyes of hers, glassy orbs in a closed mask.

" _ **Starting off round two of the Yuuei Academy Summer Sports Festival tourney, Midoriya Izuku versus Uraraka Ochako!"**_ Midnight declared, and her voice sounded almost _gleeful_ to Izuku. Did she know about their friendship…?

" _ **Begin!"**_

This was it.

The sound of the audience drowned under the pounding of his heartbeat against his eardrums, his pulse tight and choking in his throat; for a moment, neither student moved, then Uraraka took a single step forward.

Swallowing hard, Izuku followed suit.

Midnight was yelling something, but he couldn't hear it – across from him, Uraraka took another step, then another, and then with no warning she'd taken off in a run, teeth bared in some feral snarl as she barreled right for him.

 _I don't want to fight you!_ his heart screamed, but his body wouldn't let that happen, throwing itself out of the way to avoid her.

He hated to admit it, but his Quirk – Quirks – were flat-out stronger than Uraraka's. Even operating at a mere five percent, One For All granted him reflexes, strength and speed far greater than the average person, assuming they lacked a physical enhancement Quirk.

Uraraka, on the other hand, didn't seem to have the same qualms about fighting as he did. He hadn't used One For All to dodge, and as a result, he was still within her reach, and so she doubled back to drive an elbow into his chest, gunning for a takedown.

Even without his Quirk, he was still stronger than her from the time he'd spent training with All Might, and likely could have thrown her off, but for whatever reason, he simply let himself fall, the nausea stronger than ever, his teeth nearly chattering out of his skull.

His eyes found her face. Her lips moved, but he couldn't hear what she was saying -

" _ **Midoriya Izuku is down! Can you move, Midoriya?"**_

Midnight's shout cut through Izuku's daze and everything came rushing in – the crowd's cheers and the crowd's jeers, the heat of his face in the scorching sunlight and the way it formed a golden halo through the outer edges of her hair as he looked up at her glaring down at him, the ache of his back from the fall.

Her hand, her open palm on his chest, holding him down.

 _All Might,_ he wondered, _what would you do?_ Had his idol, his hero – had All Might ever had to deal with anything like this? Having to fight a friend?

 _No,_ he realized. _It's not just fighting a friend. I fought Iida-kun and everything was fine. It's fighting Uraraka-san that's the problem…even I can tell that she hasn't been okay lately. But what's bothering her?_

Was he going to just let Uraraka take him down like this, without putting up a fight? Would he just let her win because he didn't want to hurt her?

" _if I go on protecting you all the time, I'm never gonna give you any room to grow."_

His own words, from the night they'd run into Stain, came back to him, and suddenly everything was crystal-clear.

 _I'm still protecting her. I'm still trying not to let her get hurt. But if I go down without a fight, it's not going to help – she knows I can beat her, and she'll know I didn't even try!_

And so it was that Uraraka Ochako found herself sailing through the air a split second later.

Thinking quickly, she used her Quirk on herself to save her tailbone a bruising, but she was no less surprised – Izuku's hesitation had vanished in an instant, and he'd used his Quirk to both flip her off of him and spring to his feet, tracksuit scuffed, eyes burning.

"I can still move!" he shouted, not taking his eyes from her face, and his frown had turned to something closer to a snarl, whether or not he meant it to – an unfortunate trait he might have picked up from Bakugou at some point.

 _This is my dream. I can't keep protecting you forever, Uraraka-san. Even if it hurts, I will win this._

For the first time in over a week, the hint of a smile, a challenge, cracked open Uraraka's mask, and Izuku understood a little of what had been bothering her.

He knew a direct attack wouldn't work, but as a revolting cocktail of emotions and bile rose in his throat, he seized on the feeling, mentally rerouting it, letting the nervous, heart-pounding determination fill his limbs, his lungs, his heart.

 _Full Cowling._

Midoriya Izuku's hair stood on end and brilliant emerald arcs lashed through the air across his entire body.

Faster than he could remember moving before, he took off, kicking hard against the sun-scorched concrete, scarred from matches past; leap after leap brought him in and out of Uraraka's range, forcing her to try to turn and keep up with him until, finally, he flipped straight over her head as she turned to face him, drawing back his fist –

" _Detroit –_ _ **smash!**_ _"_

He struck her squarely in the back, feeling a surge of guilt and revulsion – had he really just hit a girl? – as she let out a startled yelp, a huff of air, and was thrown forward, onto the ground, onto her stomach.

Still, she struggled back to her feet; still, she coughed and made to attack Izuku again.

Dodging this one was easy – it was as if Uraraka was a ponderous fish in slow water, and Izuku was lightning, dancing circles around her. He slipped easily to one side, then lunged forward, making to throw her from the ring and end this instead of dragging out what was sure to be a one-sided beatdown – then – then she grabbed his arm, touching five fingerpads to his skin, and he blanched.

If it had been anyone but her, this wouldn't have been particularly significant, but as Izuku felt the pull of gravity relent, he knew immediately the mistake he'd made: in trying to avoid injuring her, he'd given her a window of opportunity.

"Gotcha, Deku-kun," she whispered, so quietly that it was deafening, and then Izuku was the one flying through the air, the wind whipping his bush of a hairdo around his ears.

 _I'm not losing this. I_ can't _lose this._ He didn't want to come across like Bakugou, he really didn't, but he knew that their bracket would end here if she won, since she'd undoubtedly be up against Todoroki next, and he'd just freeze her solid. The only people who stood a chance against the heterochrome were himself and Bakugou… _but at the same time, won't beating me give her the confidence boost she needs?_ he mused, then kicked himself. _No. Like I decided…losing without giving it my all is the wrong way to go about this, both for myself and for Ura – for Ochako!_

He'd known for a while now that Phoenix possessed its own sort of Full Cowling; he'd seen it firsthand during the sludge villain's attack, well over a year in the past now, and he hadn't even had One For All then. During the entrance exams, too, Phoenix had merged so seamlessly and wholly with his One For All-empowered punch that someone on the outside looking in would doubt that it had been two Quirks causing such destruction – and during the attack on the USJ, he had effectively used One For All at one hundred percent in a thirty-second full cowling thanks to his own Quirk. So what exactly was Phoenix's equivalent…?

As he rolled midair, he came face-to-face with the blinding sun, and he knew.

 _Phoenix: Radiance._

Even Uraraka couldn't hide her shock when Izuku stopped short in midair and turned to face her, still floating, wings of red-gold fire erupting from the back of his tracksuit, flaming tendrils licking at dry air.

"Uraraka-san," he called, drifting to the ground – had he finally found his voice?

She stared.

"I'm – I'm not gonna hold back just because we're friends!"

"You still think we're friends?"

Izuku didn't think he could be any colder if Todoroki Shouto had run him through with a spear made of ice, and something broke in him. His restraint, maybe. His self-control. The dam holding him back.

"Why would we be anything else!?" he screamed back. "After everything!?"

A beat. Her glare scorched like the sun.

"Why are you doing this, Uraraka-san!?"

He knew he was crying, but he didn't care.

"We can't help you if you just run away from whatever's bothering you!"

" _I'm not running away!"_ Uraraka exploded, teardrops etching lines of fury over her round cheeks. "I'm – I'm just – "

" _Stop it!"_

Still weightless, Izuku shot forward like a missile under the influence of his Quirk, colliding hard with Uraraka and knocking them both to the ground, where she lay still, glaring at him.

"It hurts, Uraraka-san," he whispered.

She couldn't say definitively how she felt, how she was feeling; she wasn't even entirely sure why she'd been avoiding him, other than _that day_ – at first, it had been embarrassment: how was she supposed to face him after half a kiss that he hadn't even addressed? Later on, she'd figured that perhaps he'd simply been stunned – it was a very _Deku_ thing to be, really – but by then she'd already sunken into the pit she hadn't even tried to claw her way out of, stewing in her own feelings of ineptitude and worthlessness and fear.

 _I don't want to be around you because I'm afraid I'll find myself depending on you,_ she thought, gaze boring into his, willing him to understand, to do something – anything _– anything other than sit there and cry, don't cry, please don't cry, I'm sorry, I –_

Her head hurt. Her heart hurt. _Why him? Why now?_ she wondered; it seemed fate had been especially cruel today.

"I understand if you're hurt because of your parents, Uraraka-san," Izuku started, cutting into her thoughts. "But I – "

"My parents are alive."

"…You never told me."

"I know," she whispered back – why were they whispering? It wasn't like the crowd could have heard them even if they'd shouted, but something about this moment felt too intimate for anything else.

"Why?" – and one of his tears dripped onto her own cheek, scraped from a faceplant, and the pain vanished.

 _Phoenix tears,_ she thought. She almost smiled. "Because. You said it yourself, I can't grow if you're protectin' me, Deku-kun."

"That doesn't mean you have to just throw everything away! Or shove the rest of the class away, too!"

"I know, but – "

"But what, Uraraka-san? Were you just going to pretend none of this happened when you finally got strong enough for yourself? You're hurting _all_ of us. It's like Kirishima-kun told me…we're in this for the long haul. We have to look out for each other."

She didn't respond.

She knew what she was doing wasn't helping anything – it was hurting her, it was hurting her friends, it was hurting _him,_ and maybe him worst of all. Sure, she'd been angry enough to ask Aizawa (who Izuku had once suggested had a soft spot for students whose Quirks weren't explicitly suited to combat) to teach her a thing or two about close quarters fighting, and it had helped her confidence a little, knowing she could defend herself to an extent – but after that, had she simply been planning to go through her classes and her life by herself, after finally finding a place she could belong…?

"We're still not friends," she said, abruptly, and she could have sworn Izuku stopped breathing.

"We're best friends."

"…That was cheesy, Uraraka-san."

"That's Ochako to you." A pause. "…I'm sorry, Izukkun."

" _ **It appears both contestants have become unable to move!"**_ Midnight declared. _**"Could this be a tie!?"**_

 _Oh, darn it!_ "Let's save the talk for later, yeah? We still have to finish the match," she pointed out.

"Oh…oh, yeah. Um. Okay. Um, do you wanna – "

"Gimme everything you got, Deku-kun!"

For the first time in over a week, there was life in her eyes, and he shot her a sharp grin through the tears.

Without another word, he helped her to her feet, then leapt back, controlling his flight with some difficulty; he was still having a hard time properly using Phoenix, and the longer he kept these wings active, the less control he found himself able to exercise over them, and the more they started to… _burn?_

"Are you sure about that, Uraraka-san?" he called.

"Yep!"

 _I have to end this quickly,_ thought Izuku, clenching both fists; Uraraka hadn't released her Quirk's effects yet, and he had a sinking feeling he was going to lose his air control once his wings went out.

 _But what can I do?_

Optimally, he'd be able to simply throw her from the ring with one hit…but he didn't have the strength to do that with just five percent of One For All, and he didn't want to use one hundred percent; he had to save that for the fight against Todoroki…

Then the wings at his back burned his shoulders and he understood.

Taking a step back and bracing his legs, he diverted all of his focus into the wings, drawing them back as if to flap them, then began channeling as much of One For All as he could through his back, feeling his shoulderblades scream in agony, but as they weren't directly exerting the force, simply serving as a conduit, they didn't break, didn't shatter, and the flaming wings began to ripple, crackle, shudder with emerald lightning –

" _Phoenix…_ _ **Smash!**_ _"_

In an office somewhere, Yuuei's principal gave a man called Toshinori Yagi a light jab on the knee, chuckling. "He even picked up your habit of naming his moves after American cities."

Toshinori groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Back on the field, Uraraka had to admit she absolutely hadn't been prepared for this – when Izuku had stepped forward again, the wings at his back had moved, smoothly and slowly, and a hot, crackling wave of air had surged forward at unbelievable speed, lifting her off of her feet and blasting her out of the ring as if she weighed no more than a feather.

" _ **And the winner of the first match of round two is Midoriya Izuku!"**_

Midoriya Izuku, who staggered and fell to the ground not a second later.

… _I did it._

* * *

"You really did a number on yourself out there," scolded a voice that reeked of _age_ , accompanied by a more literal smell of antiseptic and plums.

"Mmh."

"Second-degree burns on each shoulder blade, and bruising underneath that. I've done what I could, but using my Quirk to heal you is out of the question for right now. You're out of energy."

With a groan, Izuku raised his head from his pillow; he'd been placed on his stomach on a sterile white bedspread, hospital corners tucked neatly at the headboard and foot, and his tracksuit had been removed – he still had his underwear, but over that, all he wore was a thin hospital gown.

"Where are my clothes?" he mumbled, and Recovery Girl waggled a finger over her shoulder, scrawling something on a clipboard.

"Your tracksuit was burned right through at the shoulders. Support's sending up a new one."

"Is Uraraka-san okay?"

" _Deku-kun!"_

"Does that answer your question?" Recovery Girl deadpanned, glancing over her shoulder at the brunette, who'd just hurtled into the room without so much as acknowledging Yuuei's resident nurse and who had flown directly to Izuku's side, staring at him with those wide brown eyes of hers.

"Um, yeah. Hey, Uraraka-san," he added, much more quietly. "I'm sorry about that."

"It's fine," she shrugged, smiling a rueful little smile, and Izuku knew she wasn't done hurting, but at least she'd let him in, and that was a start. "I told you to gimme everything you got, yeah? I just, um, wasn't expecting you to be able to do that."

"I wasn't either," he admitted, shifting on the bedsheets; the movement pulled the back of the gown open, and the color drained from her face.

"Uh, Deku-kun, what happened to your back?"

"Huh?"

She pointed, and he twisted his head around to see, but was only able to glimpse the edge of a sick red-and-yellow stain on the otherwise clean bandages that had been wrapped around his torso; what visible flesh there was on his upper back was bruised purple, and as two fingers reached up to probe the dark flesh, he winced.

"My best guess is that his Quirk caused those injuries," Recovery Girl put in, from where she still scribbled on her clipboard, her tiny form hunched on an upholstered stool taller than she was. "A pair of flaming wings and second-degree burns on the shoulder seems to match up nicely, hmm?"

"Um, what's the yellow stuff?" Uraraka asked, innocently –

"Pus" came the curt reply.

Izuku thought his friend might be sick.

Still, she stayed by his side, and after Recovery Girl stepped out, Uraraka switched on the television, which was already tuned to the sports festival. The feed was unmistakably the next match, Kirishima versus Todoroki, and it was apparent who would win: though Kirishima had the tools to punch through Todoroki's ice, it was costing him far more energy than it took Todoroki to send up each ice wall, and after a few minutes, the redhead simply dropped to one knee, admitting defeat.

Todoroki hadn't moved an inch.

"He's pretty scary," Uraraka commented; Izuku stared at her hand, soft and pink and perfect on the sheet next to his face, and resisted the urge to take it in his own callused one.

"Yeah" was all he could manage in reply.

"You know you're up against him next, right, Izukkun?" she murmured, gaze dropping to her shoes, and Izuku nodded, Present Mic's voice small and distant from the screen.

"I know."

For once, he was at a total loss for words, and silence fell between them, though he was unable to tell what sort; did it blanket them, warm and comforting, or was it a chill void? - then she moved her hand a fraction of an inch to lace her fingers with his and he had his answer.

The air conditioner hummed overhead.

"Ochako?"

"What's up?"

He squeezed her hand and whispered:

"Don't leave like that again."

The hand squeezed back.

"I won't."

* * *

Bakugou's match against Sero was less of a match than a figurative bloodbath as the poor Tape user tried his best to keep up with the explosive blonde's fury and simply couldn't.

"That was rough," Izuku murmured, watching the bruised and battered Sero tossed from the ring like a ragdoll, and Uraraka hummed agreement.

The final match of the second round was equally mismatched: Tokoyami versus Yaoyorozu. Unfortunately for Yaoyorozu, Tokoyami's Quirk essentially turned the one-on-one into a two-on-one, and no matter what she manufactured with her Quirk, Dark Shadow was always on top of her, swatting aside weapons and slamming its inky bulk into the steel bulwark she'd strapped to her arm in an attempt to protect herself.

Slowly, inch by inch, foot by foot, Yaoyorozu Momo was pushed backwards out of the ring by Dark Shadow, while Tokoyami Fumikage himself didn't move for the entire match.

"Y'know," Uraraka commented between chews of some snack they were sharing (Izuku wasn't familiar with it, but it tasted faintly of lime), "Yuuei's really skewed toward combat Quirks. If you don't have one, you gotta either find a way to work with what you got, or just give up entirely. Some Quirks just ain't cut out for hero work."

"Mm. That's what would have happened to me if I'd inherited my mom's Quirk, I think."

"Oh! What's her Quirk?" Uraraka turned to him with her eyes wide, blinking innocently; Izuku swallowed his food and chuckled, looking at his own hand.

"Attraction of small objects. I used to sit on the couch and spend hours just trying to get the remote to come to me," he sighed, studying the knuckles, the fingers, the scars. "But it never worked. I spent most of my life thinking I was Quirkless because mine didn't manifest until I nearly got killed a couple years ago."

"Wait!" she piped up, sitting up straighter. "It was a guy with a sludge type Quirk, right?"

"Um, yeah. You saw that?"

"Yeah! I just…didn't really connect the dots until now. That was you?"

"Yeah. I met All Might later that evening and he told me that I might actually be able to get into Yuuei."

"Wow…that's incredible, Deku-kun. And scary," she added, as an afterthought, and he laughed out loud.

"Yeah. I thought I was gonna die."

Arms, kind and warm and very much _Uraraka_ , wrapped themselves gently around his waist, and the next thing he knew he found his friend's face inches from his own, her cheek squished against the pillow and her expression softer than the bedsheets. A fiery blush to rival the lighter burns on his back raced up Izuku's face, but if she noticed, she didn't say a word.

"I'm glad you didn't, Izukkun."

A beat.

"I…I know things aren't gonna be the same," she began, "well, not right off the bat, anyway – "

"What do you mean?"

"Well…I mean, I've been givin' you the cold shoulder for a week. Are we just gonna pretend that didn't happen?"

"I'm just glad it's over, Uraraka-san."

An ancient, dry rasp of a laugh broke into the room and their moment and Uraraka sat up sharply, glowing like the setting sun.

"Alright, lovebirds. I have to heal Midoriya before his next match," Recovery Girl announced, shuffling over to the bed.

"We're not – " then he stiffened and let out an involuntary shriek as the elderly nurse's lips extended like a proboscis and planted a sloppy, grandmotherly, and altogether unpleasant kiss on his back; within seconds, her Quirk erased the pain and burning, and after a minute, his back had healed entirely, the burns nothing more than faint scars and his skin back to its usual, not-purple color.

"All done. Now, you're up against Endeavor's son next, so you better stay sharp out there, you hear?" Recovery Girl instructed sternly, and Izuku pushed himself off of the bed, nodding.

"Ah, yes, ma'am." _…Wait, what!?_

"Good. Here's your new tracksuit." She patted a wrapped lump of paper on the counter, and he reached for it, slipping the gown off without stopping to consider that Uraraka was still in the room.

"D-Deku-kun!?"

He glanced up and found her practically steaming at the ears, and it took him a moment to understand why.

"I'm sorry, Uraraka-san! I wasn't – uh – Uraraka-san!?"

Recovery Girl's cackles followed the poor girl out of the ward as she made a dash for the safety of lands free of shirtless Midoriya Izukus.

* * *

He wished he'd had a chance to talk to Uraraka one more time before heading down to the ring, but she'd most likely headed up to 1-A's box to watch alongside the other students who'd been disqualified.

… _Recovery Girl called Todoroki-kun "Endeavor's son"…was she serious? If he's Endeavor's son, why would he only use ice…?_

Then he remembered what Todoroki had told him before the festival.

" _I won't lose to someone with a fire Quirk."_

"Todoroki-kun…I wonder why he doesn't like fire?"

He didn't realize he'd spoken aloud until another voice answered him, aggressive and powerful, unquestionably masculine and _in charge:_

"He's in his rebellious phase. He'll come to accept it someday."

Izuku jumped.

The man who strode out to meet him at the cross of two hallways burned with flame, hellish crimson fire that spoke not of _evil_ but of _penance_. "You're Midoriya," the man went on, ignoring the way he'd startled Izuku. "I've had my eye on you. Your Quirk is called Phoenix, correct?"

"Ah, um, yes, sir," the other stammered out, blinking wide green eyes. "How'd you – wait, you're Endeavor!"

"Hmph." – but the hint of a smile crossed the man's face nonetheless; was he pleased at being recognized, or something else? "You're up against my son next. I'm interested to see how this match will play out."

"Why?" Izuku blurted, then flushed, feeling like he'd been disrespectful; to his relief, it didn't seem to bother the number two hero, who dipped his head, acknowledging Izuku's question.

"Shouto does not wish to use my Quirk. He does not believe it suits him, and he does not wish to become like me. I daresay right now he believes he hates me."

"But why wouldn't he wanna be like you?" Izuku was puzzled. "You're the number two hero…"

" _ **Would Midoriya Izuku please report to the preparation room for his match?"**_

Midnight's voice, sultry as ever and tinged this time with irritation, crackled out of the yellowed speaker at the ceiling, and Izuku blanched – the fact that she hadn't said Todoroki's name alerted him to the fact that he was running late. "I'd go if I were you," rumbled Endeavor, and Izuku noted that the hero hadn't actually answered his question. "You don't want to keep that one waiting. She'll tear you to pieces."

"Ah, y-yes, sir."

Endeavor watched him go.

The hallway, its walls painted a fading gray-blue, seemed to Izuku to flash by as he jogged along, rows of fluorescent lights bathing the limits of his world in their cold white flicker; he hurried down two flights of stairs nestled in dark stairwells, then emerged back out into the overly air-conditioned bright gloom of an identical hall. _Really,_ he sighed, internally – _where do all of these hallways_ go _?_

Still, he found his way to the prep room in due time, only to find Midnight awaiting him in quite possibly the least decent pose she'd struck yet: supine across the table, one heel on the edge, the other on the floor.

"You're late, Midoriya," she drawled, sitting up, but her legs stayed in that uncomfortable vee-shape. "What kept you?"

"Ah, um, I'm sorry. I ran into Endeavor, and – "

"Oh, yeah. He's here. Forgot about that one."

To his surprise, Midnight didn't seem too thrilled to hear about his encounter.

"Is he here to pretend he cares again?" the R-Rated Hero sighed, rolling her eyes; against her eyeliner, the effect was striking. "Mmm. Well, that's none of my business any longer, I suppose. I've gotta head out and make the announcement, so I'll see you on the field."

Izuku moved to let her pass, head buzzing now – _what's up with Todoroki-kun and Endeavor?_ – but just before she reached the door, Midnight stopped dead, glancing at him over her shoulder.

"Oh, and Midoriya?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't be too hard on Shouto. Whether you wanna believe me or not, he's had it pretty rough."

 _Shouto? Why is she calling him by his given name…?_

And then she was gone, leaving more questions behind her than he'd had with him when he entered the room.

* * *

"Uraraka-san," Kaminari greeted her, as, cotton candy in hand, she plopped down in the open seat between him and Jirou (Jirou, who pouted silently with her arms crossed, and Ochako didn't have to reach far to figure out why; there was a distinct red mark on Kaminari's forehead, resembling that left by a sharp jab from a small point). "Um, hey."

"Hey!" she chirped back, without thinking, and quite suddenly, the members of class 1-A in the box had all crowded around her. It took her a moment to figure out why – she'd been avoiding them for the past week, and they were understandably shocked to see her in better spirits. "Um, sorry for – "

" _Ochako-chan!_ "

With zero warning whatsoever, Mina, Tooru, and Momo threw themselves at her, all hugging her at once, and Kaminari yelped from her right; evidently, Jirou had jabbed him again to prevent him getting too good a look at Mina's left thigh.

"Ochako-chan I'm so glad you're feeling better did you two _kiss_ oh my god I saw what happened out there – " Mina, always the gossip.

"Aaaah – aaaaah!" Wordless squeals from Tooru.

"Ah, Ochako-san…it's good to have you back," Momo murmured, expression kind. "It's okay if you don't want to talk about what was going on."

"Hey, Midoriya – " Kaminari started up, but for the third time, Jirou delivered a well-aimed jab, this time to the ear, and the blonde let out a yelp before Kirishima tackled him over the back of his seat.

" _Midoriya-kun told us that in confidence!"_ the redhead hissed. _"You don't go blurting that out!"_

"…Thanks, Mina-chan, Tooru-chan, Yaomomo." A small, soft smile found its way to her lips, and she looked up, meeting Mina's eyes. "And no, we didn't – "

 _Kiss!?_

"Wow, it didn't take much to get her this time, huh?" Mina commented, hand on her hip; above her, Ochako floated upside-down like a blushing balloon.

"Mina, be nice!" whined Tooru, and it was safe to assume she was pouting, even if she was invisible. By the time Ochako recovered, she'd noticed the distinct absence of a certain friend, and when she asked, the invisible girl's sleeves rippled in a shrug. "Iida-kun? Um, I think he left early."

"Iida-kun left early?" Ochako repeated, incredulous. "And Aizawa-sensei let him go?"

"Yeah, he said it was important."

" _ **Match one of the semifinals, Midoriya Izuku versus Todoroki Shouto!"**_

"Guys!" Kaminari hissed; he and Kirishima had both gotten up and now hung out of the box, staring wide-eyed at the field. "Can ya keep it down? We're tryin' to watch here."

"The match literally just started!" Tooru shrieked; Ochako was fairly certain the girl next to her shot them a dirty look, but for what could have plausibly been the hundredth time, it occurred to her that she had absolutely no idea what Tooru was actually doing.

Heading to the edge of the box herself, she sighed; from up here, it was a little hard to tell what exactly was going on, but –

"Is Midoriya just…standing there?" Kirishima wondered aloud. "Why aren't they moving? Even Todoroki hasn't attacked again."

"Something's wrong," Ojirou cut in, voice unexpectedly _sudden_ and _present_. "I don't think they're just standing there."

Ochako squinted – _I really need glasses,_ she'd remember thinking later – and her blood temperature plummeted like a stone from the sky.

Jutting from Izuku's back – and she realized now that he wasn't slouching, he was _limp_ – was a jagged, long edge of ice, dripping scarlet, and even as she watched, more of that liquid life pulsed out, in time with what she recognized from falling asleep together as his heartbeat. Before she knew it, she'd screamed.

" _Izukkun!"_

The cotton candy lay forgotten on the floor.


	15. Chapter 15

**Contrary to popular belief, I am _not_ dead, and nor is Izuku (really, did everyone just forget he has a Quirk?). Life's been kicking me in the teeth lately and I've not been myself. I'm sorry.  
**

 **This and the next chapter were originally going to be one long piece, but I decided to split it up for the sake of an update, since it's been nearly a month since the last one.**

* * *

Soft beeping.

Blood, sluggish and foul, soaking bandages into scarlet rags.

The boy on the bed lay still and silent, chest rising and falling, body broken and burned.

"…What happened out there?" Uraraka Ochako murmured, biting her lip, and the boy next to her shook his head.

"…Nothing I expected," he admitted, letting out a sigh, and the room fell into silence again.

The door burst open. Yaoyorozu Momo stood on the other side of the threshold, and when she caught sight of the person lying still on the sterile linens, she stopped dead, frozen, and the two visitors already present turned to face her, wearing matching frowns.

"I'm sorry," Midoriya Izuku whispered. "I'm so sorry."

* * *

He'd been shocked, to say the least, to find a meter of solid ice through his sternum. So, apparently, had his body; there was a blank stretch between processing the injury and waking up to find himself cradled in Todoroki's arms, frozen tears streaming from his erstwhile opponent's right eye and steam hissing out of his left, all signs of composure gone.

"Midoriya! _Midoriya!_ " he remembered Todoroki screaming. "Just – hang on, Midoriya, we'll find someone – _don't just stand there, get help! Midoriya!_ "

 _It's no good, Todoroki-kun…_

Deep down, Izuku knew this wouldn't kill him – already, he could feel a faint fire building in his chest; hell, he was half-sure he could see its light flickering from the inside of the frozen spike through his ribcage. Still, it didn't change what had happened, and he doubted any of his classmates knew that his Quirk could reverse such an injury.

"Todoroki-kun," Izuku mumbled, reaching up with one hand, though he wasn't sure what he was even reaching for – either way, Todoroki grabbed it, trying to ease his arm back down. "Please…"

"Midoriya. No. Relax. Please. Put your arm down, hold still, it'll only – "

"Get away, Todoroki-kun."

Blood bubbled in his throat as he spoke, and he choked, but didn't stop trying to talk; the fire was _different_ this time _._ It was _angry_ , and he could feel that rage, like some foreign thing in him, an emotion that wasn't there, a sensation that wasn't his.

"No, no, no, this isn't okay, I didn't – I didn't want – I didn't mean – "

Izuku coughed, and a fine red veil spattered Todoroki's face, cutting him off.

"You need to get away," Izuku repeated – _and I'll keep saying it, he needs to go, now!_ "Todoroki-kun. Please."

He could hear the sounds of doors slamming open, the shouts of people rushing onto the field, but it was too late.

Understanding dawned in Todoroki Shouto's eyes as the flames swallowed them up.

* * *

Yaoyorozu sat closest of all, staring dead-eyed at the bandaged mess that was Todoroki's body.

"It's not your fault," she said, for the fourth time. "It's nobody's fault."

"We know, Yaomomo," Uraraka tried to soothe her.

Izuku watched his own tears drip onto clenched fists.

"I wish I could have made him get away from me."

"Izukkun, please…" Despite Yaoyorozu's presence, Uraraka didn't bother with formalities, and she shifted closer to him so that their legs touched, squeezing his hand. "Todoroki-kun was worried about you…you said it was an accident, right? He ran right to your side when he saw you were hurt…"

"Yeah," he got out hoarsely, and in the dim light of the ward, Uraraka tried a little smile.

"There's no way you could have controlled your Quirk, either." This didn't exactly come as a comfort, but he had to admit it was a fact – he'd had no success whatsoever controlling the devastating effects of Phoenix's death trigger.

Mentally, he now referred to Phoenix almost as if it were two separate Quirks: Radiance and Rebirth. _Radiance_ was what he'd finally figured out and given a name to earlier that day, being able to channel his own drive and emotion into pure flame and power; _Rebirth_ , on the other hand, was uncontrollable and catastrophic, capable of fusing with One For All to level city blocks the way it had during the entrance exams. Rebirth was also what he'd used during the attack on the USJ to take down the – _it was called a Noumu, right?_ – in conjunction with…

"Todoroki-kun." He could feel wetness on his face now, watching Yaoyorozu watching Todoroki – only for her, it was less watching than boring twin holes into the space past the body on the bed.

"…Um, we can check out the match in a minute?" Uraraka suggested, voice quiet, but Izuku shook his head.

"I don't really feel like watching any fighting right now, Uraraka-san. Besides," and he hated to admit it, "Tokoyami-kun's strong, but Kacchan told me during the cavalry battle that his Quirk was weak to light. I already know who's going to win."

Those brown eyes stared at him blankly for a moment, then: "…This festival feels a lot less festive than it did earlier."

"It was never really a festival," Yaoyorozu spoke up, not tearing her eyes from Todoroki's form. "It's what essentially replaced the Olympics in Japanese entertainment." Izuku stumbled, mentally, over the English term: _Orinpikku._ "We're here competing for recognition by hero agencies. It was never about _fun._ "

A shrug. "It just feels like it's gotten too personal now, y'know?"

Privately, Izuku agreed; the only fight that hadn't carried any weight so far had been his match with Iida (who, he recalled, had left early, and the thought left a sinking dread in the pit of his stomach – what could have been _that_ urgent, except…?). Even the cavalry battle had had some aspect of hurt to it, seeing Uraraka avoid his company so actively.

"…Yeah."

Yaoyorozu leaned forward, crossed her arms, and laid her upper body on the bed by Todoroki's legs. Quietly, Uraraka gave Izuku's hand one last squeeze, then moved to sit with the other girl, gently rubbing her back to comfort her.

 _Yaoyorozu-san and Todoroki-kun are pretty close, huh?_ Izuku wasn't surprised; he'd seen how she looked at him when they'd been out together, and the fact remained that he was the only boy in the class she actively sought the company of.

Unexpectedly, the intercom crackled to life with _**"Would Bakugou Katsuki and Tokoyami Fumikage report to the preparation rooms for their next match?"**_ and Izuku blinked, baffled.

"I'm still surprised they're running the tournament after two injuries like that," he said aloud, to nobody in particular, and to his surprise, Midnight answered him from the doorway.

"Yeah. Yuuei's not really known for letting minor incidents like impalement and explosions get in the way of their festivities, didn'tcha know?" she drawled. Rolling her eyes, the hero strode into the room, past Izuku, and gazed at Todoroki's unconscious form with an expression on her face Izuku didn't think he'd ever see on Midnight.

"Ah, I don't mean to be rude, Midnight-sensei, but um…shouldn't you be out there doing the announcements?" Izuku pointed out, but she waved a hand.

"I got Hizashi to cover this one, and Eraser'll take the commentary for now. Thought I'd come up and see Shouto." It took him a moment to register that _Hizashi_ was Yamada Hizashi, or Present Mic; he knew most of the teachers had been at Yuuei together, but it didn't make it any less odd to hear him referred to so informally. "You said this was an accident?"

"Yeah."

A nod. "I didn't think Shouto was the type to do something like that on purpose. And you're okay?"

"Um, I'm fine, just tired," Izuku responded, scratching at the back of his neck. "My Quirk uses a lot of energy."

"Looked like it," the other sighed, as Yaoyorozu reached up and – needlessly – brushed one of Todoroki's bangs out of his face, away from a closed eyelid. "You nearly blew up the medics who'd come out to help you."

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, feeling hot, prickling shame creeping up his back, but Midnight just shrugged.

"I'm well aware it wasn't your fault, don't worry. Recovery Girl suggested it was your Quirk's defense mechanism against an attacker capable of inflicting such lethal damage."

"But I could have at least warned them – warned _him_ – "

"Midoriya-san, how were you supposed to speak with a spike that size in your chest?" Yaoyorozu cut in; evidently, she'd been listening after all. "Don't go feeling guilty about it. We're all having enough trouble coping as it is." The tone in her shaky voice caught him off-guard, and he could feel the beginnings of tears -

To his surprise – _today's really full of surprises, huh_ – Uraraka stiffened, then stood up, stepping aside and letting Midnight take her place in the seat next to the bed. "Come on, Izukkun," she murmured, making her way for the door. "I think we should leave them be."

And so, casting one last glance at Todoroki, he followed his friend out of the ward, trying to blink away the hurt.

"Where are we going?" he asked her, watching her brown bob bounce as she walked, and she just shrugged.

"I dunno. I um, kinda just wanted to give Yaomomo some space. What was Midnight-sensei doing in there?"

"I think she knows Todoroki-kun from before he came to Yuuei." He wasn't entirely certain, but her disdain for Endeavor and the use of Todoroki's first name were clues if he'd ever seen any. "When she talked to me before the match, she told me not to be too hard on him, and now…"

Pain lanced through his lip, already tender from being chewed so much, as he bit down on it, trying to hold back an outright sob. Reading the mood, Uraraka fell back, walking beside him instead of leading the way. "…I'll be honest, Izukkun. I'm kinda surprised Todoroki-kun's even alive right now."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you stayed standin' long enough to burn out, then passed out, so I guess you don't really 'member, but when he tried to stop you bleedin', there were a few seconds where nothin' happened, and then the entire stadium just…lit up like a firework." She paused, staring at her shoes. "This huge column of red and gold fire just shot up into the sky. I could feel the heat off of it from the box…but I was so shocked about you getting hurt that I kinda dropped my cotton candy, so I was hopin' we could get another," Uraraka added, nudging him playfully, trying to lighten the mood a little, and he smiled ruefully, gaze fixed on his own feet.

"Guess I messed that up too, huh?"

She bit her lip. _…And that backfired._ "Just share one with me, 'kay?" she prodded, trying for a different angle. _Say yes. Figure out what I'm goin' for, Izukkun._

To her relief, he dipped his head, but the smile he wore was weary, and it did nothing to assuage her worry.

They made their way through the halls to the visitors' hall that ringed the stadium, where storefronts for snacks, souvenirs, drinks, and gadgets littered the walls; every table outside every store was packed with people, all watching Bakugou and Tokoyami prepare to battle it out (they could hear Present Mic's shouts coming from the center now, but it was muffled; his Quirk-enhanced voice was well suited to making announcements inside the stadium, but far too loud for the intercom system to handle, leaving those outside the stands to rely on Aizawa's droll commentary for information).

"That's weird," Izuku mused, watching through the glass outer wall as gray clouds rolled across what had been blue sky not an hour before. "When did it start raining?"

"I dunno. It must have rolled in while we were in the ward." A flash of lightning punctuated her words, almost immediately followed by a vicious _crack_ of thunder, and even over the noise around them, he could hear the rain hammering at the windows.

Wherever they were headed, Uraraka clearly knew where it was, and she weaved her way through the crowd, leading Izuku straight to what was unmistakably a sweetshop.

"You again?" the man at the counter asked, but his tone was cheerful. "What happened to the last one? You float it away?"

"I dropped it," she muttered, fishing in her pocket for change, but she didn't have nearly enough, and when she'd looked up, Izuku had stepped up, holding out a fistful of yen. "Deku-kun – " she started, but it was far too late.

"What a gentleman," the shopkeep chuckled, dipping the white paper handle into the tub next to him; through the clear Plexiglas front, they watched, hypnotized, as threads of crystallized sugar spooled around it, and a moment later, the man handed Izuku a perfect pink cloud, shooting him a wink as he handed it to Uraraka. "You two take care, hear me?"

"We will!" Izuku called back, all cheery waves and smiles. The moment they turned away, however, his face fell, and he sighed. "I'm sorry, Uraraka-san. I'm…I'm not feeling so well."

"It's okay, Deku-kun," she promised, reaching a few inches to squeeze his hand. "Here, have first bite. You at least deserve that much for paying for it…"

Indulging her, Izuku leaned down and took a mouthful of the fluffy stuff, feeling it melt in his mouth; the texture was altogether curious, but not unpleasant, and he wrapped his fingers around the upper part of the handle. Pushed it back towards Uraraka. _Your turn,_ the gesture said.

Smiling a little, she leaned over to take a bite, and the next second her hands were clapped to her cheeks, a dreamy grin spreading across her features. "Ooh! It's so _good_! You wanna find a – mmph!"

She'd let go of the cotton candy, and as its sole wielder, Izuku had turned and pulled her into a tight hug, right in the middle of the walkway.

It took her a moment to realize that he was crying.

"Ochako," he got out, voice shaky. "Promise me this won't be the last time we do this."

The crowd parted around them, flowed like a river.

"Do what?" she returned, muffled by his shirt; gently, but certainly not hesitantly, she wrapped her own arms around his middle and pulled herself closer, burying her face in his chest, listening to his heartbeat, the pulse she'd believed lost for a few soul-shattering seconds when Todoroki had launched his overzealous attack and accidentally sent his ice too far too fast.

"Anything like this," he murmured back, cryptically, squeezing her a little tighter. She felt a few scattered tears splash down on the back of her own shirt. "Promise me if I ever tell you to get away, you'll do it. I want to see you smile like that again. I wouldn't be able to stand it if it was me who took that away from you."

He knew he was shaking, knew his body started to move erratically as his chest hitched with the force of the sobs he tried so desperately to keep down, but it didn't seem to bother Uraraka in the slightest.

"I promise."

Barely a whisper, but she'd said it.

Outside, the storm truly broke.

* * *

A plain beige sedan rumbled up to the outer wall of Yuuei High, wipers flailing to combat the downpour, and the man inside smirked.

The _Cataclysm_ Quirk had one condition: the user must be in sight of the disaster site. However, that didn't mean he had to have vision on the exact center of the disaster; the fissure that broke Futtsu and Yokosuka had started in Yokosuka, as he watched a couple supervise the renovation of a mall that had quickly gone from a state of disrepair to one of "disappear" in the wake of his power.

Calmly, he rolled down the window and poked one arm out. Raising his hand, he aimed palm-out at the storm, and something in it rippled unpleasantly, unnaturally; his work at Yuuei done, he turned around and drove back the way he'd come.

* * *

Elsewhere, Yuuei medical staff had their hands full getting the bandage-bound Todoroki Shouto out of the building, accompanied by Yaoyorozu Momo and the hero Midnight.

"Oh, fucking _great_ ," the latter had snapped ten minutes prior, as a low voice came out of the radio at her hip. "That's absolutely goddamn brilliant."

"What? What's wrong?" Momo had pressed, ignoring Midnight's distinct lack of dignity, and the hero had rolled her eyes with a huff.

"There's a _tornado_ outside."

Momo paled.

"What – but there can't be – Japan doesn't – "

"Would the principal lie?" sighed the older woman.

With a huff, the girl clamped her mouth shut, thinking hard.

The building shook, likely from the tornado's sheer force, and Momo had to admit the power of nature was _just a little terrifying._

Then they rounded a corner and found that the ceiling had collapsed right across their path, in front of the door.

" _Damnit!"_ Midnight hissed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Right. What are our Quirks? Mine's going to be useless for this. Even if I could put inanimate objects to sleep, they'd just fall over again anyway."

One of the nurses shrugged. "I can read someone's vitals by looking at them. I'm…not so sure that'll be any use."

"Good Quirk for a nurse," Midnight conceded, "but yeah, not much good for a rescue situation. You?" she directed at the other, and he shrugged just like his coworker.

"All my Quirk does is let me attach bags of fluid to people."

"…How the _hell_ did you even figure out that _that's_ your Quirk? Actually, never mind," Midnight sighed. "We have more pressing matters at hand. Yaoyorozu, do you have any bombs in there?"

"In…there?" she repeated, a little baffled, then it hit her that Midnight meant using her Quirk, as if she just had some ready-made stockpile of explosives inside of her thoracic cavity. "Um, I don't know for sure…but I might not have enough resources to make anything large enough to get _that_ out of the way…" Her hesitation wasn't unwarranted: the cluster of debris blocking their path filled the entire hallway and there was no telling how far back it went.

"Have some confidence!" Midnight urged, but Yaoyorozu cut her off.

"I understand what you're trying to say, but my Quirk operates on the lipid content of my body, and if I use that up and it's still not enough, we're going to be stuck here and I'm not going to be able to help you any further! Furthermore, a blast could cause even more of a cave-in…so…there has to be something else we can use…"

The building rumbled again, shaking dust from the ceiling.

 _What'll be able to get through this without exhausting my Quirk…?_ she mused, studying the debris; it was mostly chunks of lumber and insulation, mixed in with concrete, and if she was honest, explosives would likely be overkill. _What I need is something that can both clear the debris and reinforce the path we'll be moving through…_

The two nurses shouted with alarm, and she whipped around to see Todoroki's bandaged form staggering to its feet, his eyes open at last –

"Sir, you have to lie down – "

"You're injured, don't – "

"Yaoyorozu. Midnight. I'll take this from here."

* * *

 _Boom._

A screaming, rushing roar like a freight train filled their silence, and they jumped.

"Uraraka-san!"

"Deku-kun!"

Instinctively, they clutched at one another, Uraraka's fingers digging into his sides and his digging into her shoulders and back, heads whipping around for the source of the sound. No such luck – it was all around them, though it seemed to be coming from outside.

"What was that!?"

"Mama, are we gonna die?"

"Oh no. Ohh no no no no."

"Deku-kun," Uraraka cut in, across the fear and terror stabbing at him from the crowd, and Izuku jumped, shifting focus back to his friend. "Does the rain sound… _sharper_ all of a sudden?"

He listened. It did.

"That's what I was afraid of," she grimaced. "My mom and dad always said this never happened in Japan when they were kids, but…."

"What did they say never happened?"

Uraraka bit her lip. The sharp clattering on the glass outer walls fell quiet. "Deku-kun…look outside."

He looked.

Like some vast tendril reaching down from the sky, a thin, narrow thing stretched out of the clouds above, waving, weaving its way to earth. It was something he'd only seen in films, in textbooks, and suddenly Izuku was very, very afraid.

" _ **Attention participants, staff and guests: please report to the inner stadium for shelter from the storm. Do not attempt to leave the building. I repeat, do**_ **not** _ **attempt to leave the building."**_

"That's…." He blinked stupidly, watching the funnel cloud descend.

"Yeah. I know. Come on, we hafta get out of here," she ordered, more sure of herself than he'd seen her in weeks, but -

"But what about everyone here?"

"Deku-kun, I know you wanna save everyone, but I don't think that's the best idea right now!" A pause. "Please. People can take care of themselves. Focus on the ones who can't, okay? And you need to stay safe, too!"

"I – "

" _Please!"_

A beat.

 _She's got a point,_ Izuku had to admit to himself. _I'm definitely not gonna hesitate to help anyone in trouble, but right now we're in no particular danger. Plus, I don't have Phoenix's regeneration to save me right now…_

"…Okay, Uraraka-san," he agreed, grudgingly. "I'll…I'll try to stay safe."

* * *

"Stupid shitty fuckin' tornado – "

"Kacchan, can ya calm down? It ain't like you're gonna be able to fight in a tornado anyway," Kaminari pointed out, only to be met with –

" _Shut up, you shitty nerd!"_

"Calm down!" Aizawa Shouta barked, fixing the class with that eerie red-eyed glare of his, and even Bakugou Katsuki fell silent. "I understand that you are frustrated, but as heroes, it is your job to remain calm and composed. _You_ are who the public looks to for reassurance. Behave accordingly."

"Yes, sensei," echoed the 15 present students; Midoriya, Uraraka and Yaoyorozu had gone to visit Todoroki in the hospital wing and had not returned, while Bakugou simply clenched his jaw and looked away.

They were currently jam-packed into the curious space beneath the field alongside an ever-increasing number of guests and spectators, and the heat of warm bodies was simultaneously intoxicating and revolting – crammed up against Hagakure, Tokoyami was very, very glad that they were not wearing their hero costumes, or he'd have been blushing scarlet through his feathers.

"So what d'you think is gonna happen now?" Sero Hanta mused, surveying his classmates in the dim emergency lighting. Overhead sounded a muffled crashing that went on for a solid fifteen seconds.

"What else _can_ happen? We're gonna sit here 'til it's blown over," Satou Rikida told the Tape user, pursing his lips. "Unless one of you can stop a tornado."

"Yeah, sure, 'cause someone like that exists," grumbled Kaminari.

* * *

As it happened, someone like that _did_ exist, and he was on his way to do just that.

Unfortunately, however, he was slower now than he'd ever been, and the stadium was a fair distance from Yuuei's main building. Toshinori Yagi spat curses through clenched teeth as, propelled by a single, One For All-empowered leap, he watched the stormcloud grow closer.

The noise was nightmarish; he'd seen tornadoes before, but he'd never been so _close_ to one, never seen one so immediate and real, the air screaming like a freight train all around him. Still, as Nezu had explained, if he could disrupt the cool downdraft propelling it for long enough, it would disappear, and even in his weakened state, One For All could level a city block, so he could _definitely_ hit hard enough…but as a trickle of blood escaped the corner of his mouth, he began to question whether or not he had the strength to complete his mission…

Alone in the rain, All Might landed before the tornado and stared up at the pitch-black pillar snaking its way to the heavens, whipping his vee-shaped bangs about his forehead. The man himself stayed standing, rooted against force that would have swept any lesser human off their feet, and drew back one arm, shouting to the storm:

" _ **Detroit…SMAAAASH!"**_

Forcing as much of One For All as he could into the punch, he swung his right fist in an arc, curving from sky to earth and plunging his arm up to the elbow into the dark winds. The downdraft the blow generated began its work immediately, shooting up the twister like a firework, stopping it in its tracks with wind pressure more than sufficient to do the job; unimpeded by solid objects, the sheer force of Toshinori Yagi's punch rocketed into the atmosphere, blasting the storm into dark, cloudy wisps.

Still, even as the noise died and the dust settled, All Might realized the ground was still shaking, and it immediately occurred to him just what was going on.

 _There's nothing natural about these disasters._

With a grimace, he pulled his cell phone from the pocket of his slacks and dialed Nezu's number.

* * *

"…The tornado stopped?" Uraraka murmured.

"Looks like it…."

Izuku craned his neck to see rays of sunshine streaming in through the window.

"Then…why is the floor still shaking?" she asked, tapping at the tile underfoot with the toe of her shoe, and Izuku knelt to place one palm to the cold ground, only for a chunk of drywall to hit him squarely between the shoulder blades. "Deku-kun!"

"It's – I'm fine, Uraraka-san," he reassured her, wincing a little as he got back to his feet. The debris hadn't been anything particularly large, or heavy, but the angle of it drove the corner directly into the space between his shoulderblades to strike a nerve. "Really. But you're right about the floor, it shouldn't be – "

And then the stadium started to crumble.

"Earthquake!" Izuku heard someone shout, and suddenly the crowd all around them was pushing, pressing, all warm bodies and hot panic; instinctively, he reached out and clasped his hand around Uraraka's, and she laced her fingers with his, squeezing tight.

"Uraraka-san!" he barked, over the din. "Don't let go, okay?"

"Like I ever would!"

They fought their way through the crowd, clinging to one another for dear life as increasingly large debris rained down from the ceiling, striking people around them and drawing out scream after screech after shout after wail –

"Shouldn't the stadium be insulated against stuff like this?" Izuku called, and Uraraka nodded fiercely from his right.

"Yeah, shocks an' stuff! I dunno why it ain't – unless…"

"Unless?"

"The tornado musta weakened the buildin' structure!" she explained, fixing him with those wide brown eyes of hers. "That's the only thing I can think of…"

 _I guess growing up with contractor parents taught her a thing or two._ "Huh…that's one heck of a coincidence," murmured Izuku. Biting his lip, he glanced back at the windows – at the last shreds of storm drifting off to the northwest – and suddenly he realized…. "Uraraka-san…everyone is sheltering under the stadium…."

She didn't miss the implications of this.

"Oh no…that means – Deku-kun, we gotta _do_ somethin'!"

"Like what? We're four stories up, everyone'll be crushed before then!"

" _ **Attention. With the dispersal of the tornado, we are asking everyone to evacuate the building in order to assess its structural integrity and preserve their safety. Thank you for your cooperation."**_

Aizawa Shouta's voice drawled out of the speakers overhead, and in spite of the situation (and the fact that he'd added "safety" as almost an afterthought), Izuku felt just a little relieved.

Uraraka, on the other hand, was incensed. "What about everyone up here?" she hissed. The crowd's panic hadn't settled, and the crumbling walls and ceiling weren't exactly calming anyone down. "They're still gonna get crushed…."

"And that includes us, Uraraka-san. You said it yourself – people can take care of themselves." The words sounded foreign, alien, even _cruel_ coming from his own lips, but as he fixed his friend with a firm glare, he felt something else surging up in his chest, pushing the feeling aside… "And…I don't wanna see you get hurt, Ochako."

She grit her teeth, cheeks reddening. "I…I know. I'm jus' worried, Izukkun." She squeezed his hand, and the warmth in his chest grew hot. "Alright. I'll come with. But if someone gets hurt, I'm not gonna just leave 'em there."

"Did you think I could turn my back on someone like that, too?" he shot back. "Never mind. Let's – "

 _Crash._

A fresh round of screams soaked the air, shrill and piercing to their ears; turning on the spot, Izuku quickly located the source of the noise: a pile of rubble had fallen, trapping a man underneath it…

 _Threads of crystallized sugar, spun around a paper handle._

" _What a gentleman. You two take care, hear me?"_

With a shout, Izuku took off running. Uraraka didn't have to be dragged along – she was right with him, still clutching his hand as tightly as he held hers.

A sick shade of crimson painted the slick tile.

"Hey, mister," Uraraka murmured. "You're gonna be okay, alright? Jus' – don't move, 'kay?"

Izuku couldn't take his eyes off the man's face, watching the blood drain from it onto the floor, the soundless gaping of his open mouth.

The pain. The _agony._

"I – Uraraka-san, I – " he stuttered; Uraraka, on the other hand, kept her head, giving orders like she'd done it a thousand times.

"Deku-kun, get a cloth or somethin'. We gotta stop the bleedin'."

"I, ah, right."

He glanced around a moment, and, seeing nothing readily available, grabbed the hem of his shirt and tore off a strip, handing it off to her. Clumsily, Uraraka rolled up the man's pant leg – he screamed, and

 _oh god oh god oh god it's gone it's gone there's nothing there just blood just blood_

with a jolt, Izuku realized that his calf had been entirely disconnected at the knee, leaving a bloody stump with a sort of grim finality to it.

Uraraka bound the man's thigh in a tourniquet and wiped her bloodied fingers on her own shirt before dabbing at her eyes with her still-clean sleeve.

Dimly, Izuku registered that she was following to the letter the first aid procedures that Aizawa had gone over during one of their heroics lessons, though with a considerably kinder bedside manner than their instructor. He gave himself a mental shake: _Get it together, Izuku. You can't fall apart like this when someone's hurt, especially this badly!_

"Ggh…aah…"

Blood trickled from between the man's parted lips as he let out a raspy gurgle, reaching for something neither of them could see.

"Please, you gotta calm down, mister. Just calm down 'til we can get someone here to help, 'kay?" Uraraka murmured, but she _had_ to know he wasn't going to make it…

On the fourth floor of Yuuei's stadium, Izuku could only watch as the cheerful sweetshop owner's life ended in a pile of crumbled concrete and broken timbers.

* * *

"Todoroki-kun! _Todoroki-kun!_ "

"There's nothing we can do," Midnight cut in, harshly. "None of us have a Quirk capable of stopping him."

Momo stomped her foot, glaring up at the wall of ice that separated herself from Todoroki.

" _Yaoyorozu. Stay back."_

" _Todoroki-kun, I – "_

" _This is what I have to do. If Midoriya's Quirk was anything else, he'd be dead right now. I would be a murderer. To sit here now, when you're in danger…I can't let that happen. I never wanted to be anything like him!"_

He'd sent up that wall of ice between them not a moment later.

On the opposite side of the wall, Shouto faced rime-coated rubble, his breath coming out in ragged, measured gasps, little puffs of vapor escaping his lips with each exhale. He hadn't had a plan when he'd sealed himself in, but now that he was alone and his mind was clearer, he remembered a lesson from a physics class in middle school – thermodynamics, and how heat would cause things to expand, while cold would cause them to contract.

That superheating a freezing space in an instant would result in…

"…Midoriya. Yaoyorozu. I'm sorry."

Standing in the middle of the collapsed hallway, the ambient temperature now dwindling to well below zero, Todoroki Shouto let his left side erupt with hellish red flame for the first time in eleven years.

He'd atone one way or another.

* * *

The rest of 1-A stood with the crowd outside the ruined stadium.

Nezu had agreed with Toshinori that the concurrent disasters were no coincidence but rather the result of a planned attack by none other than the villain Cataclysm – there were no other Quirks they knew of that could cause such disaster. Sure, other Quirks existed that could cause damage similar to earthquakes – a heroics student at Shiketsu High possessed one, while another was registered to a man called Chisaki Kai – but there were none that could trigger an _actual_ earthquake, and sure enough, this one had been very real, centered on a fault line to the west of Yuuei.

To make matters worse, the epicenter was a significant distance from the school itself, and it didn't take Nezu long to reach two conclusions:

One: the Cataclysm Quirk likely depended on some sort of environmental risk factor – that is, the conditions for a disaster must be _present._ The Quirk was not capable of creating those conditions, but it could exacerbate them and draw out the disaster itself. That would, according to the principal, explain why all of the recent quakes had taken place on existing fault lines, even if they were targeted attacks.

Japan, unfortunately, was covered in fault lines, which made the villain's job that much easier.

Two: the Cataclysm _villain_ had been willing to risk heavy collateral damage to Tokyo and specifically Musutafu in order to strike Yuuei. To Nezu, this indicated a motive, and a strong one at that – but just what that was escaped his deductions.

Thanks to the sheer power of All Might's Detroit Smash, the tornado had broken up, eliminating any risk of evacuating the festivalgoers from the stadium entirely, but even as the earthquake subsided, Toshinori knew his job wasn't done.

The hero approached classes 1-A and 1-B, which stood together at the outskirts of the crowd, but only Vlad King – 1-B's homeroom teacher – stood with them.

"Where's Eraser?" he asked, with no pretext whatsoever, but Vlad simply shook his head.

"He went in after two of his missing students. Midnight called in to say that she was with the other two, but Midoriya Izuku and Uraraka Ochako are still unaccounted for. You need him for something?"

"…I meant to ask him about those very students," came the reply, with a complimentary grimace. "It's too dangerous for him in there. He may be a pro hero, but an actively collapsing building isn't something just anyone can handle, even if they're trained…."

Vlad just stared at him for a moment, and it occurred to Toshinori that he was _All Might_ right just then, the invincible number-one-hero. His concern as a colleague to Aizawa and as a mentor to the students was too _human_ for even other pro heroes to quite associate with a figure that may as well have been a myth, a legend, and Toshinori had to give himself a mental kick to get his brain into hero mode.

He could do this. He could go in there and rescue those who needed it. He'd done it a thousand times already. _So why am I so nervous now? Why am I so scared to see the inside of that building?_

He thought he knew the answer, but chose to avoid thinking too hard about it.

With a firm nod, Toshinori – no, All Might – strode easily through the crowd, which parted for him like the Red Sea, and turned to face those gathered, placing both fists on his hips and turning to announce:

" _ **It's all right now…why? Because I am here!"**_

He just wished he could believe his own words as readily as the people who latched onto his presence like the human hope that he was to them.


	16. Chapter 16

**Sorry this took so long. I've been working on the rewrite, too – if you're reading this, Chapter One's rewrite should be up soon. I plan on uploading it after I put this up.**

 **Can we all just agree that blaming the victim is never okay? If I get shot in the head, is it my fault for not wearing a helmet? I'm not inviting a bullet into my skull by exposing these alluring temples of mine.**

* * *

"My name is Iida Tenya. I'm here to see Iida Tensei – the hero Ingenium!"

"Please lower your voice," the woman at the reception desk sighed, spectacles glinting in the lamplight. "He's located in room 224."

Tenya bowed, accepted the paper wristband he was issued, and set off for the elevators. His usual square-shouldered march was all but gone.

* * *

Momo coughed. The wall of ice she'd been shouting at seconds prior had just exploded violently, but when she looked around, the shards had all melted (a Quirk's effects dispelled upon its owner losing consciousness, so did that mean…?) and amidst the smoke – no, that was _steam_ – amidst the thick, foggy steam that filled the corridor, she could make out another body lying unmoving on its right side…

" _Todoroki-san!"_

"Yaoyorozu, wait – !"

She ignored Midnight's shout of alarm, ignored her reservations about the hallway's structural stability, and rushed to the side of her unconscious classmate - and, dare she say it, friend.

He still breathed. That was a good sign, right? "You two," she called to the nurses, who'd hung back with Midnight. "Can you help him? I can make anything you might need as long as you tell me what it's made of."

 _Even if it's…_

She wouldn't let herself finish that thought. There was no way his injuries could be _that_ bad.

…Right?

Five floors up, Izuku and Ochako found themselves dealing with someone whose injuries _were_ that bad.

Everyone around them had fled by then; they'd seen the blood, seen the writing on the wall, and evacuated. The two Yuuei students, however, weren't able to just _run away_ like that – no, they had to play the heroes.

 _Playing the hero…is that really what we're doing?_ Izuku mused. _Playing?_

 _We…we can do this. Just calm down. Remember Aizawa-sensei's lesson!_ Ochako drilled herself.

Still, no amount of lessons could have prepared them for this.

"Come on, come on," Ochako whispered, trying desperately to elevate the stump of the man's leg above the level of his heart as he lay prone; she'd used her Quirk to move the rubble off him, but Izuku could tell it was too little too late. He could see how swollen and purple the stump was, the way blood _pumped_ out of the wound with each erratic heartbeat –

The man before them drew in a rattling, gasping breath, and Izuku scrambled forward, eyes wide. "Vendor-san?" He felt stupid, but what else was he going to call the man bleeding to death before his eyes?

"Gg…ggh…"

The living corpse coughed, spraying Izuku's face with hot, sticky blood.

"Ggh…get out…"

 _He's talking._

"No!" Ochako shot back fiercely, all conviction and fire, but the man closed his eyes, swallowed. Shook his head.

"Get yourselves…killed…if you stay…"

"I'm not leaving you here!"

"Uraraka-san," Izuku murmured, but she didn't look up at him, and he couldn't finish his sentence:

 _This man is going to die, no matter what we do._

* * *

Several hours before the disasters struck, Stain left their preassigned meeting spot for Yuuei and stopped dead when someone blocked his path – a very _messy_ someone with a mop of unkempt, prematurely grey hair and cracked lips, someone whom he'd only heard of until now.

"Shigaraki Tomura," he acknowledged, dipping his head to the other (the five-degree bow, a typical gesture of greeting, but delivered with just a touch of irony). "What brings you here?" The question was calm, but the inside of the Hero Killer's head buzzed – _why was he here?_ This wasn't a chance meeting.

"I see you've heard of me," came the reply, a lazy drawl, and Stain quirked one nonexistent eyebrow. "Did you get my name from the USJ incident report?"

"Not at all," Stain shot back smoothly, staring into where the other's eyes might have glared through the curtain of his bangs. "I have my sources. The underworld isn't solely the domain of your league of villains, after all."

"Mmm." Whatever the meaning, Stain wasn't able to interpret it. "That's what I was afraid of, and part of why I came here to talk." A beat. "You're trying to steal our spotlight, aren't you?"

"What?" Whatever the vigilante-turned-criminal had been expecting, it wasn't something so petty. "You're concerned about _exposure_?"

"Of course. If you want to destabilize hero worship, you knock the heroes down by making them look incompetent, not by murdering them. Shake the faith, _Hero Killer_ – or should I say Stendel?"

The Bloodcurdle user's blood curdled.

"How did you – ?"

"My point is," Shigaraki drawled on, reaching up to brush the hair from his eyes with one hand, "you're making yourself an enemy and turning the heroes into martyrs. You're making them into something the public sympathizes with. You're no threat to someone on the street, so why would they be upset with heroes for failing to stop you? All you're doing is causing the public to rally around their supposed pillars of strength. You're undermining everything I'm trying to set up, and you have to go."

Stain didn't respond – Stain _couldn't_ respond.

For, the moment Shigaraki had unveiled his eyes, their deep red had begun to glow with something unnatural, something _inhuman_ , and within seconds, the Hero Killer had become nothing more than a stone statue, petrified for eternity in the alleyway.

At least until Shigaraki reached forward and touched all five of his fingers to the stone's surface, turning Akaguro Chizome into nothing more than a pile of sticky dust.

 _Shigaraki Tomura. Quirk: Basilisk._

* * *

"They're saying it wasn't an accident, you know," Kendo Itsuka murmured, and from her left, Kodai Yui let out a quiet sound of acknowledgement.

"How the hell is something like this _not an accident!?_ "

Unfortunately, Bakugou Katsuki had overheard her, and Kirishima instinctively stepped between Kendo and Bakugou, shooting the redhead an apologetic smile.

Kendo, however, wasn't cowed. "Haven't you been paying attention to the news? People are theorizing that this is all the result of some unregistered Quirk. The earthquakes that have been happening all over Japan – they're all by hero schools. And now this…I don't know about the storm, but that earthquake was too convenient to be a coincidence."

"You, uh, aren't one of those weirdos who believes in conspiracy theories, right?" Sero prodded, and Kendo shook her head, orange ponytail whipping back and forth.

"No, not usually. That would be him – " and she jabbed one thumb at Monoma Neito, who (to 1-B's equal surprise and relief) stared silently up at the wreckage in the distance; for once, he was displaying some level of prudence, and Kendo shot a glance at Kodai before turning back to Kirishima and Bakugou.

They were being escorted back to the school; paramedics had been brought in to check over everyone who'd been injured in some way, and aside from a few cuts and scrapes, the majority of those who hadn't needed rescuing were perfectly fine.

"Japan has a lot of earthquakes," offered Sero, weakly, but Kendo shook her head again.

"Not this many. Plus, look at what happened to Futtsu and Yokosuka. They're _still_ cleaning that up. I don't want to believe that there's a villain out there with that kind of power…but at the same time…"

"I know whatcha mean," Kirishima sympathized. "Sometimes you gotta accept whatcha don't wanna hear."

Bakugou remained silent, jamming his hands into his pockets. Jirou half-expected Kaminari to take a jab at him, but to her surprise, the electric blonde stayed silent, gaze distant. Perhaps he was just as galled as Monoma.

"Look on the bright side," came another voice from Kendo's left as one Honenuki Juuzo joined them. "We should be safe for the time being. Even though the frequency of damaging quakes is up four hundred percent, they haven't struck the same locations twice as of yet. Maybe that's not comforting to you guys, but it's _something_."

"I guess," Jirou admitted, tapping the ends of her jacks together; Kirishima was fairly certain she didn't even know she was doing it. "Do you think pro heroes will do anything about it?"

"Considering the reports all over the media?" Honenuki stroked his thumb and forefinger across his chin, caressing a nonexistent goatee. "They'll probably at least look into it, if nothing else. And there are definitely hero teams on standby for disaster relief all across Japan."

"Yeah, well, they better hurry up and get everyone outta there. Asshole fucked up my match with Deku," Bakugou grumbled. Kodai looked a little shocked, but Kirishima stepped in, grinning.

"He's a good guy at heart. He's just got a funny way of showing it," the redhead consoled her, and Kaminari snapped out of his reverie just in time to throw in his own opinion.

"Yeah, he's 1-A's resident tsundere!"

" _What'd you call me!?"_

Jirou and Kendo stifled giggles behind their hands as Kirishima kept a cheerful hold on Bakugou the rest of the way back to Yuuei's main building, maintaining a safe distance from Kaminari.

* * *

Ochako stared.

She wasn't stupid. She knew what had happened. She knew the sudden, eerie stillness of death, but she couldn't quite accept it, and as she stared open-mouthed at the man's body, her brain struggled to reboot, revving like a dying engine, over and over –

"Uraraka-san," Izuku murmured, from her side. No response. He tried again – still nothing. "We have to move, Uraraka-san. The stadium is gonna collapse."

She paused with her mouth halfway open, then: "Izukkun, I – "

 _Boom._

The entire building shook, violently; both of them let out a cry, and Izuku staggered, bracing himself against a pile of rubble. When the rumbling stopped, Ochako was still there, staring pale-faced at the fresh corpse in front of her, and he realized – _she's not moving…I have to do something. Even if she doesn't want to leave, she'll die if we stay here…!_

Watching her, he felt flames licking their way up his arms and immediately knew what to do.

"Sorry, Uraraka-san, but you'll thank me later!"

Ochako only had time to squeak before he'd activated Full Cowling and pulled her out of the rubble in a single leap, careful to shield her with his own body as another round of shaking brought down the ceiling where they'd been crouching mere moments prior. There was a foul, sickening _crunch_ , and when Izuku glanced behind him, he spotted a pool of blood seeping, inch by inch, from under the remains of what had likely been a support column on the fifth floor.

He didn't let her look.

* * *

As much as he hated to admit it, Toshinori was growing impatient with the sheer quantity of people he'd had to pull from the stadium already – a solid twenty, and he was still only halfway through the third story. Nothing compared to what he was used to for large-scale disasters, but the fact that his students and colleague were among those presumably trapped…well, that made it a whole lot worse.

 _That, and if I keep pushing myself, I'll run out of power…_

Ishiyama Ken – one Cementoss – was currently doing his utmost to stop the building from collapsing. He'd constructed supports out of concrete to keep it up, but if he released his Quirk's hold, there was nothing else keeping the stuff from breaking apart and tearing the entire building down faster than it was already crumbling, piece by piece; even as Toshinori watched, another chunk fell off the side of the stadium, smashing through the reinforced plate-glass like tissue paper.

The number one hero had methodically searched each and every floor so far, but he'd found nothing yet – and if Midoriya and Uraraka weren't on the fourth floor, he doubted he'd be able to keep his muscle form long enough to -

And then, smashing his way onto the fourth, he saw the body (or what remained of it) and forgot everything for a moment.

It was clear that the rubble causing the injury had been moved; a chunk of concrete and rebar, likely from the frame of the building itself, lay next to the dead man, overturned and smeared with gore. Something had crushed his head and shoulders, leaving a sticky crimson pool, and a trail of blood, taking the form of shoeprints, led off towards the stairwell.

With no other leads to follow, Toshinori headed off in the same direction.

* * *

"No answer? The first years can't still be participating…they'd have moved on to the second years by now."

Tenya replaced his phone neatly in his front pocket, folding his hands in his lap just as neatly. He sat, straight-backed and square-shouldered, on the train seat; now that he knew his brother would live, the worry had faded, but there was still a twisting angst in his gut that flared up every time he remembered Tensei, lying there with a respirator and enough bandages to mummify seven people.

It made him _angry._

Iida Tenya was not one to show feelings that ran deeper than the surface; likely everyone that he knew would describe him as emphatic, expressive (and aggressively so) but the truth of it was that his face only read out his reactions in the moment – tangent lines to the curve of true emotion. The guilt and fury that boiled beneath his skin…well, nobody would ever know. He'd either deal with it or take it out in a way that wouldn't hurt anyone but himself.

No. He wouldn't drag anyone else into his pain.

Idly, he found his gaze being drawn to the television screen. The train featured a few of them in each compartment, set at regular intervals, and most of his fellow passengers were either absorbed in whatever was on their phone screens or staring in what Tenya realized was horror at the monitors overhead.

 _ **YUUEI ACADEMY: THE NEXT TO FALL? DEADLY DUAL DISASTER LEAVES DOZENS WOUNDED, DEATHS UNCONFIRMED.**_

… _What!?_

Instead of staying on the train until his usual Tokyo stop, he disembarked at the next possible opportunity, bumping into a gangly young man in a black hoodie on the way – but for once, Iida Tenya didn't bother to apologize, rushing out of the station as fast as he could without breaking into a run.

Shigaraki Tomura grimaced under his hood, spotting the exhaust pipes on Tenya's calves as the other pushed through the glass front doors and made a right turn onto the sidewalk.

 _Shame this is a public place. I'd like to see if he could outrun my Quirk._

* * *

He was _All Might._ So why was he shaking so hard?

Toshinori tried his damndest not to let his relief show on his face as he confronted the two students, who looked more shocked than anything to see him there. Midoriya – he would understand, but Uraraka, he knew, still saw him as _the invincible number one hero_ , a figure out of myth and legend ( _which,_ he mused, _isn't entirely inaccurate_ ), and seeing him break down would probably ruin the poor girl's already faltering confidence.

 _You already failed to tend to her mental health once,_ came that whisper, the one that sounded like Nana's murderer, and he shut it out.

 _Shut it out, just like Torino-san says. That's how he got to you before._

"It's all right now. Because _I am here!_ " – a thundering boom, his voice.

"All Might!"

Midoriya's relief was tangible. Uraraka looked less certain, but from the blood smearing her hands and front, he had a feeling she was in no particular state to be hopeful about anything. She was likely the one who'd left the bloody tracks, and he knew what the two would be going through as soon as this was all over….

"Come, you two," he went on. "Let's get you out of here. It's not safe."

"Wait, All Might," Uraraka cut in. "Shouldn't there be other people to help before us? We can walk…."

"If you walk, you won't make it out in time. The odds of a stairwell being blocked are too high. But I can carry you both to safety in an instant!"

She blinked, and in that instant, there was another faint rumble and the ceiling cracked open, letting dust drift down to settle on her hair.

"Come on," Toshinori continued, voice more urgent, less comic-book-hero. "You'll be crushed before you get out." He grit his teeth; his transformation was going to run out in just a few minutes, and if he didn't get these two out in time, they'd _all_ be in trouble.

Uraraka bit her lip.

"We…we can do it ourselves, right, Deku-kun…? If I use my Quirk…."

Toshinori coughed, deliberately, and met Midoriya's eyes, brilliant blue pleading with piercing green; instantly, his protégé understood, and even if he didn't know just how dangerous the building was – or that outside, Ishiyama Ken was straining himself to keep up the supports currently stopping the entire thing from falling to pieces – he knew just what Toshinori was risking to help them.

Suddenly, there was a crackle from the radio at the hero's hip, and Nezu's voice came through.

" _All Might? Are you there?"_

"Yes – I am here!" he shouted back, pulling the walkie off its belt clip, and there was a sigh of relief from the other side. "I've got young Midoriya and young Uraraka here. They're safe with me."

" _That's great!" –_ and the principal of Yuuei sounded genuinely relieved to hear it. _"There's just one more problem…Aizawa isn't responding to his walkie. He stopped replying a little after he said he'd entered the second floor, and we can't spare anyone else – there are several dozen people trapped around the back of the stadium."_

"Aizawa-sensei's hurt?" Midoriya piped up, without missing a beat.

Toshinori's gaze drifted back up to his pupil.

"All Might-sensei…if Aizawa-sensei's hurt, then I think it's more important to get to him first. Uraraka-san is right – her Quirk can get us out safely, and I can muster up just enough energy to get us to the ground in one piece if she gets sick - if it's to help save Uraraka-san, I'm sure of it!"

In spite of everything going on around them, Toshinori couldn't help but feel just a prickle of amusement at the way Uraraka's face lit up just then.

"Please," Midoriya went on. "There's hardly any time left – go find Aizawa-sensei. We can go out through the window!"

His gut twisted with worry – _is this really okay?_ was the first thought that went through his mind – but if decades of hero work had taught Toshinori one thing, it was that there was no time for worry in a rescue situation. It was do or die, and right now, Midoriya's solution would enable _all_ of them to _do_ and get Aizawa out of danger as soon as possible.

 _Besides…I have to let them fly on their own sooner or later, and if it's sooner, so be it. Young Midoriya…you really do have the heart of a hero, don't you?_

He caught the boy's gaze, full of nothing but sheer, earnest determination, and flashed a blindingly white smile.

"All right. Stay safe, you two, and I'll catch you on the other side."

"You too, All Might-sensei!" Midoriya shot back, unable to stop a grin spreading across his own face, and with that, Toshinori tensed like a spring to leap back through the broken window he'd used to enter the fourth floor, turned midair, and launched himself with a single One For All-empowered kick back into the second floor, straight through the glass wall.

* * *

"You've got a lovely Quirk, you know that?"

The question was redundant. The man was gagged, and both of them already knew what was going to happen – or, at least, one did; the other thought he knew, but the reality was far worse than he ever could have imagined.

"I'm not so sure it would suit Tomura himself, but it's a good Quirk for an accomplice to have. A right-hand man. In fact, I've already got one in mind, and I think he could put your Quirk to much better use than you've been doing, no?"

The man didn't even try to respond. It was a last-ditch attempt to preserve his dignity.

Not five hours ago, he'd been a free man making his way out of downtown Tokyo. They'd seen themselves as vigilantes, freedom fighters, seeking to upset a society riddled with false morals and pipe dreams…but then, halfway through his Quirk activation, he'd been grabbed and dragged into a mass of black mist…

"So, here ends the villain Cataclysm…not that the world will know any differently."

Five claws, lightless black riddled with glowing red, punched through his sternum into his chest cavity, and that was the last sapient thought he had.

* * *

Todoroki Shouto's hair fell over his face as he slept, fluttering in the faint breeze of soft breaths.

Momo clenched her fists in her lap. They'd gotten out of the building thanks to his recklessness, but damnit, that didn't mean she'd forgive him so easily!

Todoroki had been taken to the hospital wing of the closest building, the Support building – which, incidentally, was much better equipped to handle injuries caused by explosions, and Momo had a lurking suspicion that this was no coincidence – where he'd had been hooked up to an IV drip and wrapped once more in sterile white bandages. (The nurses there had initially attempted to send Momo away, but Midnight had stepped in, and they'd had no choice but to let the girl stay.)

His burns weren't nearly as severe as the ones he'd initially been hospitalized with, but there was no denying that he'd have not a few scars when the day was done. From what Momo could tell, he'd taken the most damage across his left forearm and chest – where he'd blocked Midoriya's fire – but the inherent flame resistance on his left side had stopped him from being outright incinerated.

Some days later, when the bandages were removed, he'd have a scar in the shape of a wing across his left pectoral, strong lines burned into the skin amidst a mess of smaller scars.

Recovery Girl was still occupied with incident response, so for the time being, Todoroki's treatment was limited to rest and antibiotics to ward off infection.

"Hey! Howzit – _ouch!_ "

"Can't you keep your mouth shut for _five minutes!?_ This is the hospital wing, be _quiet!_ "

Momo turned to see one Jirou Kyouka and one Kaminari Denki silhouetted in the doorway, much to her surprise. Kyouka was, without a doubt, a friend, but Momo had never been particularly close to Kaminari and could only assume he'd accompanied the smaller girl for reasons entirely his own.

"Ah, Kyouka-san, Kaminari-san – "

"Yaomomo, cut the formal crap," Kyouka interjected, but her tone was kind, warmer than what she'd just snapped at Kaminari with. "I came up to see how you were doing. And…"

Momo didn't have to follow her friend's gaze to see what – to see _who_ \- she was looking at.

"He'll make it," she murmured. "I'm just a little bruised."

Kaminari had gone quiet, but it didn't seem to have anything to do with Kyouka's scolding; his stare was trained on Todoroki, and it wasn't difficult to figure out what had silenced the jokester.

A few minutes later, Kyouka remembered that they'd brought up snacks and drinks, which Kaminari immediately managed to nearly sit on (much to Kyouka's irritation, though Momo thought she'd caught a rare smile when the blonde turned away); at some point after finishing her drink, Kyouka left the room to pee, and Kaminari's grin slipped off his face like molasses.

"Is everything alright, Kaminari-san?" she pressed, equal parts firm and polite.

A beat.

"Do you think I'm not serious enough?"

This wasn't something she'd expected to bother Kaminari of all people, and so Momo, while surprised, gave him a patient glance, clearly waiting for him to continue. After a moment, he went on: "Sero-kun and I both just wanna cheer everyone up, y'know? Ever since the USJ, everything's been so _gloomy_. I guess I get why, but I don't think moping around is gonna help, so I crack jokes, but…." He didn't finish, and after a moment, Momo picked up the conversation.

"Is Sero-san having these doubts, too?"

"Don't think so. If he is, he's not showing it." He took a swig of his energy drink, replacing the half-empty can on Todoroki's nightstand with a hollow, metallic _clunk._ "I dunno. I've just been thinkin', lately…is it the right thing to do? Am I being insensitive?"

"…What brought this up?" For once, Momo was grateful for the lessons in being "ladylike" she'd been forced into as a child; she was incredibly surprised at this sudden display of character from Kaminari of all people, but not an ounce of that shock leaked through her carefully constructed facial expressions.

"Neh…Yaoyorozu-san, tell me. What was your first impression of me?" He hadn't given her a straight answer, but her intuition told her that this was leading to something, so she followed.

"My first impression?" She placed a finger to her lips, thinking, but before she could speak, the door creaked open again and Kyouka strolled back into the room, utterly ignorant of the conversation that had just taken place.

"Hey. Something happen? You two look like you just saw a ghost."

For once, the blonde didn't crack a joke; his gaze had drifted back to Todoroki, whose lip twitched up in a snarl as he slept – _what kind of dream is he having?_ Momo worried – and, after a moment of silence in which nobody present answered her, Kyouka shrugged and sat back down between Momo and Kaminari.

* * *

"Are you alright with this, Ochako?" Izuku murmured, hands on her shoulders.

A hard swallow. "Yeah, I'm…I'll be fine. You ready, Izukkun?"

"Yeah. Let's do this."

Four stories was a long way to fall, and they knew it.

He'd thrown himself into danger before, but this time was different. This time, he'd be pulling Ochako with him – and the thought of putting her in harm's way sent horrible hot guilt running through his guts, made his head throb, his heart hurt.

She slipped her arms around his waist and drew closer, and he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

"Three," he managed to get out, through an increasingly constricted windpipe.

"Two," she whispered back, and her face was so close, glowing like sunset –

"One." Together, this time.

He bent his knees and, with all the force that five percent Full Cowling could muster, kicked hard off the floor, pulling her tight to his chest as they shot through the broken window; the moment they went airborne, he felt her slip one hand under the hem of his shirt and touch five fingers to the bare skin there, followed immediately by that now-familiar sensation of weightlessness.

She didn't use her Quirk on herself, and though Izuku lost momentum, Ochako didn't, so there was a horrifying moment where he felt like he was going to drop her as she kept moving – then they rolled over midair and the next thing he knew she lay on his chest, the two of them drifting silently, slowly, through dusty air.

Below them, the world seemed so far away.

A moment's silence, then he spoke. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm…I'm fine," she whispered – why was she whispering? Why was she _breathless?_ "Are you?"

"Never better," he murmured back, the hint of a smile spreading over his lips, and she let out a sigh, laying her head across his sternum beneath the collarbone. "One question…how does this work?"

"Whaddaya mean, Izukkun?"

"Uh, if your Quirk is Zero Gravity…then we should still be falling, but you're kinda just laying on me and we're not going anywhere," he pointed out. "Why…?"

"Oh!" she squeaked, meeting his eyes then. "Um, so, basically, if somethin' I use my Quirk on has a higher mass than me, it won't fall if I sit on top of it. But if I tried ta float a desk or somethin', it would just hit the floor again. An' I figured you had a higher mass than me, 'cause…um…." A fiery blush painted her cheeks, and she buried her face in his chest again.

 _Oh, jeez. How do I tell him I was lookin' at how muscular he is?_

"That…makes sense," he deflected, putting a finger to his own chin. "So how are we going to get down?"

Ochako resurfaced. "Don'tcha have wings?"

"Oh! Um, right. Sorry, I'm…not really used to this Quirk yet, I guess." Squeezing his eyes shut, he reached for that sensation that Phoenix always brought out in him, that burning warmth, the heat of his determination, and found it much, much closer to the surface than it had been earlier; with a jolt, he realized that the first thing on his mind was the girl currently clinging to him for dear life – and really, her life _did_ depend on him, just as his her…

Izuku let out a grunt of pain as his shoulderblades burned and scorching wings erupted from the back of his tracksuit.

"You okay?" Ochako's question was immediate, and he nodded, shifting one hand to the back of her thigh and the other to her back so that he could carry her while remaining upright, enabling him to actually _use_ the wings on his back. She yelped, and he didn't quite understand why until he'd swept her into half a bridal carry.

"I – ah! Ocha…Ochako, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" he babbled out, all nerves and panic, and she clung to him like a lifeline, trying to calm him down.

"Izukkun, it's – it's okay, really! I um, I just, I wasn' expectin' that, that's all. It's…you can, um…." Evidently, what he could do was too much for her to say aloud, and she gave another hard swallow, instead turning to survey the scene below them.

They were drifting, now; the slow, gentle movement of Phoenix's wings let them sail down smoothly through the smoky sky, towards the roof of the support building.

"Hey, um…Izukkun?"

Her voice, small and sweet, rose up from his left shoulder, and he glanced down; her cheek was pressed against the crook of his shoulder, and her hair fluttered softly in the updraft as they descended.

"Yeah?"

"…Thanks for savin' me again."

He shifted, squeezing her upper half with his left arm, and she wrapped her arms tighter around his shoulders and neck.

"You saved me, too. I don't think I'd have had the energy to do this alone."

"The…energy?"

A nod. "Yeah. All Might and I…we figured out what lets me draw out my Quirk's power. It's based on my emotional state, I think. Specifically, how determined I'm feeling – whether that's to win, or to save the day."

"What do I have to do with that?" she asked, though the simultaneous soaring and swooping of her stomach told her that some part of her already knew the answer.

"If I'd been on my own…I don't know if I could have drawn out enough power for the wings, especially after the, um, the accident earlier." _With Todoroki,_ he added, mentally, and she bit her lip, meeting his eyes now.

"And…since you were with me?" Ochako probed, hardly daring to breathe.

Izuku cracked the smallest smile, the ghost of a laugh that hid the way his heart thumped in his chest. "You being here gave me the determination I needed. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you again if I can help it."

Not _to my friend_. Not _you're my best friend._ Simply _you,_ and Ochako's heart found itself on cloud nine.

"Izukkun…"

Softly, they touched down on the rooftop, and when Izuku let Ochako down, she kept her arms around him; for a long, long time, they held one another in silence, and the world was a thousand miles away.

* * *

As vice-representative of 1-A, Tenya held himself personally accountable for the well-being of his classmates, and Todoroki's injuries disturbed him greatly.

It was evening now; it had taken him longer to reach Yuuei on foot, but he'd found himself unable to sit still on a train, even if it were moving faster than he could without his Quirk (and Tenya Iida would not break the law, no sir!). When he'd checked in at the hospital wing of the heroics building, he'd been redirected to the support building, which was closest to the stadium, and he'd found Yaoyorozu dozing in an armchair by the unconscious boy's bed.

"Yaoyorozu-san?" he murmured, as quietly as he could; Tenya was not exactly a quiet person, but he was trying, and that's what mattered, right?

…Kind of. Yaoyorozu shrieked and jumped to her feet.

"Iida-san!" she breathed, hand to her chest. "You scared me…."

"My deepest apologies, Yaoyorozu-san!" he thundered, bowing low enough to glare at his upside-down knees, and when he straightened, she was rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "I – how is Todoroki-kun?"

"He's…he'll be alright." She briefly explained his injuries and their sources – Tenya, who hadn't been present, stood with mouth agape for a solid fourteen seconds when she described what had transpired during Todoroki's match with Midoriya.

"He _impaled_ Midoriya-kun?"

"It was an accident, Iida-kun."

A third voice startled them, and both Tenya and Yaoyorozu turned to see none other than Midoriya entering the room, alone and looking – for lack of a better descriptor – incredibly _sober._

"Midoriya-san," Yaoyorozu greeted him, bowing low. "I…I am sorry for snapping at you earlier."

There were a few awkward seconds in which their classmate blinked at her, then shook his head, a rueful little smile crossing his lips. "No. You're fine, Yaoyorozu-san. Someone you care about got hurt."

She glanced over to Tenya, and their eyes met – _something's different,_ she told him, without speaking, and he nodded once, curtly. Something _was_ different about Midoriya, but they couldn't quite pinpoint it; it wasn't until he paced over to Todoroki's bedside that Tenya figured it out.

 _He…didn't stammer?_

For whatever reason, Midoriya simply watched Todoroki sleep for a few minutes before turning away and making for the exit. He refused to look directly at Tenya or Yaoyorozu as he bid them farewell, slipping out of the room.

The arrhythmic beat of his sneakers on the tiled floor echoed in their ears.

* * *

Roughly two hours earlier, after Izuku and Ochako had departed the support building roof, he'd heard the rumors.

"Don't listen, Izukkun," Ochako had ordered through gritted teeth, lacing her fingers with his and pulling him further along, but he couldn't help it – he'd always been too curious for his own good. Sure, it had awakened his Quirk and earned him the attention of All Might (if he hadn't investigated the sludge villain attack, he'd likely not be at Yuuei right now), but the phrase "curiosity killed the cat" wasn't arbitrary, and satisfaction didn't always revive the poor animal.

On the ground floor, they passed a group of people – festival attendees, judging from their casual attire – not even bothering to keep their voices down.

"They're saying that kid's Quirk was what caused that storm."

"The one with the ice?"

"No, the one who got stabbed and then blew up. Apparently he's done it before, remember that sludge villain that used to live in Shizuoka?"

"What about him?"

"Remember what happened to him?"

"Oh! The kid with the – wait a second…you're not saying that's…?"

"Same kid. I looked it up. Midoriya Izuku."

"So _he_ caused that tornado?"

"Looks like it."

"Shit."

It took all of Ochako's willpower to not wince when she felt Izuku's fingers tighten around her own, and she instead squeezed right back.

" _ **Attention, Yuuei students and staff: please report to your assigned station or homeroom for a head count. It is in our core values to ensure your well-being, and your cooperation is greatly appreciated."**_

They didn't recognize the voice this time, most likely some secretary's, and to her surprise, Ochako found herself not quite able to believe the words; something about them rang hollow, and some bitter seed in her whispered: "If they cared that much, why has nobody come looking for us yet?"

She didn't doubt that _individuals_ cared for them – kuudere that he was, Aizawa was fiercely protective of them, and All Might seemed genuinely invested in their growth and development – but really, even as hero students, Yuuei's "cream of the crop", she couldn't help the feeling that right now they were nothing more than statistics on a screen, numbers in a tally. Nobody was asking where Uraraka Ochako and Midoriya Izuku were – they would, undoubtedly, be wondering why class 1-A's headcount was two short, and that was all.

The origin of these thoughts eluded her, and she didn't have much time to dwell on it. Izuku had picked up the pace, taking the lead without letting go of her hand, and she found herself borderline dragged along as he made for one of the exits.

"Izukkun," she began, then realized she had absolutely nothing to say. What _could_ she say? _"Don't beat yourself up, Deku-kun! You didn't mean to cause a lethal tornado that a villain was able to exploit to kill people!"_

Even inside her head, it sounded stupid.

"Let's just…get back to the classroom," he said, voice low, toneless.

And just like that, the world was back.

* * *

He played over the last few hours in his mind.

After touching down on the roof of the support building, classes 1-A and 1-B had been shepherded into one room so that Vlad King could keep an eye on all of them; he'd still heard nothing of Aizawa or All Might, and he could only hope that the two were safe.

His thoughts buzzed and bumped around inside his skull like some mental pestilence, overwhelming anything else he tried to think, or to feel; Ochako sat with him, one hand gripping the edge of her skirt until her knuckles went white, and though Mina tried to lighten the mood by teasing them about their still-linked fingers, the look the brunette had given the other girl had been more than enough to drive Mina into an awkward, grave silence.

At some point, a few members from 1-A and Kendo Itsuka from 1-B (trying, he supposed, to form a bridge between 1-A and 1-B, but her concern felt very real) had come over to talk with them; Ochako had done most of the talking, and he'd been grateful for it, staring at his knees as the implications of those rumours buzzed around inside his skull.

 _You caused this. You caused all of this._

Long ago, All Might had told him that his Quirk's activation had caused a storm that put out the fires from its triggering and the villain attack. He _knew_ , then, that this storm – totally outside the forecast – had to have been because of the massive, scorching-hot updraft caused by Phoenix saving his life.

 _Saved your own life, took another._

The man's pale face swam in the inky black of his mind's eye, a bloodless ghost in an empty sea.

Liquid life pouring onto unfeeling tile.

He didn't realize he was shivering until Ochako shifted closer, pressing their thighs together and squeezing his hand.

Tactfully, Kirishima said nothing, instead choosing to stomp on Sero's foot the moment he noticed the other preparing to open his mouth. (Kaminari, the usual joker, was seated with Mina, Tokoyami, Shouji and Kouda, while Mineta had stared open-mouthed at the way their hands touched for a solid two minutes before shuffling into a corner.) "You okay, Midoriya-kun?" the redhead asked, scratching the back of his spiky hair. "You look like you just saw a ghost."

"I'm fine," came the automatic response, honed by years upon years of pretending everything was alright, that he felt okay.

Across the room, Bakugou glanced up.

After the head count, but before they'd been allowed to leave, he'd gotten up and visited Todoroki in the hospital wing, by himself, and by extension run into both Yaoyorozu and Iida, but he hadn't been in any mood to talk with either. Upon returning to the classroom, he'd been subjected to the same lecture about safety as the rest of the students, then driven home in a Yuuei bus by one of Ectoplasm's clones; evidently, Yuuei wasn't willing to risk their students taking public transport that day.

He'd gotten off at a stop with Ochako, who waved a half-hearted goodbye to their classmates, then walked her home before heading back to his mother's. Inko had, naturally, been frantic, in tears and relieved to see her son unharmed (especially considering she'd been notified first of his lack of presence at the initial roll call, when he'd still been trapped on the fourth floor), but for once, he'd not joined her in her tears.

Tears reminded him that he had had the means to save the man all along and hadn't even used it. He could have taken some of those tears he'd been crying and _used_ them for something, and maybe the world would be down one less life – but he hadn't, and it wasn't, and everything was his fault.

"Izuku…did something happen to you?" his mother whispered, through a hug, and he didn't have the heart to tell her his Quirk had been the cause of it all.

* * *

A few days later, the internship offers came in.

They'd all been shocked; while only the final fight of the tourney had been cancelled, the first-years hadn't been expecting hero agencies to still be concerned about internships after what had happened. But so it was – the data they'd needed was there, and Yuuei had explicitly stated that lessons would continue as usual while each building was reinforced with the necessary structural augmentation. This included, as planned, the internships.

An unfortunate side effect of his and Ochako's newly restored friendship was that she hadn't exactly had much time to shine during the tournament and as such received a grand total of zero offers; she admitted to him later that she'd been hoping to intern under a more combat-oriented hero, but the only person she'd had to fight had been Shinsou – and that wasn't saying much, as it had taken her all of several seconds to toss him bodily from the ring.

"It's alright, Deku-kun," she'd told him, smiling bright as ever. "I can just take one of the general internships – that's what Iida-kun's doing, too. Right, Iida-kun?" she called, and to Izuku's surprise, their friend – poring over a map of some sort - just grunted noncommittally.

 _Just another thing that's your fault,_ he told himself. He still hadn't been able to shake the guilt, and he had a feeling that he'd be seeing the dying sweetshop vendor in his dreams again that night.

The door opened just then and Todoroki Shouto, uniform bulky from the bandages around his chest, paced in, completely distracting the other nineteen students. As one, they watched as he made a course straight for his desk in utter silence, then sat down and pulled an envelope from his breast pocket, opening it and scanning over the letter within.

Izuku knew immediately what it was. Though he hadn't received one himself, Tokoyami, Bakugou and Sero had all received them at the start of class from a very tired-looking Aizawa, who'd returned to class two days after the festival collapsed with zero explanation as to where he'd been.

"Shouldn't Todoroki-kun have received more of those?" Ochako murmured. Iida grunted again, and Izuku bit his lip.

"He was probably top of everyone's list up until our fight. Losing control like that…I'm willing to bet every agency besides that one wrote him off the moment he hit me with that ice," he reasoned. With a sigh, he leaned against his desk, running one hand through his ever-messy hair.

"I'm surprised you didn't get one," she went on, tilting her head a little. "You were awesome out there."

"Yeah…." He didn't mention his suspicion that the speculation over his Quirk causing the tornado, which had undoubtedly reached the internet by the evening of the festival, might have turned off some agencies, even if literally everything about it had been entirely outside his control. That knowledge hadn't stopped him blaming himself yet, after all.

He glanced up at Todoroki again – Todoroki, who stared, expression neutral, at the letter on his desk – then transferred his gaze to his shoes, imagining the scuffed red to be the colour of blood.

* * *

On their way to lunch, a voice sounded from just behind them, between himself and Ochako.

"Midoriya. Come with me."

All three of them – Izuku, Ochako, and Iida – jumped, and Izuku whirled to come face-to-face with none other than the boy who'd accidentally stabbed him several days prior.

"Todoroki-kun! Ah, um, what'd you want?" he got out. Ochako blinked, unsure how to respond, and Iida straightened his glasses.

"I would like to talk. Preferably in private," was all Todoroki said, but his expression screamed _serious_ , and after a glance at his two friends, Izuku nodded, giving Iida and Ochako a wave before he followed Todoroki down the left fork at the upcoming intersection, heading the opposite way from the rest of the students on their way to the cafeteria.

"So um, what'd you wanna talk about?" Izuku asked. There was no response, at least not until Todoroki slipped into an empty classroom and Izuku hesitantly followed.

The lights were out, but the blinds were open, letting in sunlight and casting the near side of the room into shadow; Todoroki stood with his hands in his pockets in the middle of the room and waited for Izuku to stop entirely before slipping a piece of folded paper from his slacks and opening it with one deft flick of the wrist.

"I didn't get a chance to apologize."

This was the last thing Izuku had been expecting. He'd been too caught up in his own guilt to even consider that Todoroki might be feeling even _worse_ than he was, having been the reason for Phoenix's activation in the first place.

"I wasn't planning on telling you, but I think that…after what happened, I should explain a little. Why I was so hostile, and why I lost control. Anyone else would be dead right now, and I count myself lucky that it was you of all people who bore that blow – someone who lived, who I can apologize to," the other went on, not quite meeting his eyes, and Izuku got the impression that Todoroki wasn't used to talking so much. In fact, in the two months since school had started, he didn't think he'd heard the heterochrome _ever_ say as much as he just had.

"Todoroki-kun, I – "

"Please!" – and for a moment, that stoic mask wavered, and his voice cracked. Todoroki took a breath and continued: "It was my mother who gave me this scar."

"…Huh?"

"I was five years old." His pitch was lower now, eyes downcast. "When my father found out my Quirk, he tested me relentlessly. Tried to train me from almost the day it manifested." The concept was traditionally Japanese, the idea of hard work from early childhood; despite the decidedly Western shift in attitude over the past century and a half, the stereotype of the strict Japanese parent and their piano prodigy of a toddler persisted, and from Izuku's brief encounter with the man, he could believe that Endeavour would be the type to follow that dogma.

"My mother was the hero Kokōri – " a portmanteau of the kanji for _ice heart_ , Izuku noted " – but I didn't know until a classmate in primary school asked me about her. All I ever saw of her was distant stress and my _father_ – " Todoroki spat the word " – treating her like a dog for trying to stop him from pushing me so hard." A pause, a sigh. He closed his eyes a moment, and Izuku remained respectfully silent; when he opened them again, the mask was back on. "She threw boiling water on me one day. I didn't know why. My father told me she was sick and had her taken away, and I haven't seen her since."

Izuku realized he wasn't breathing and let out a long, slow huff of air. "Todoroki-kun…."

"I don't want pity," his classmate interrupted, holding up a hand. "I want to defy my father. I want to be a hero without using his power…but I had to use it to save Yaoyorozu-san. And now…this."

He brandished the letter at Izuku, and the latter gingerly reached out to take it, as if it would burst into flame. Izuku recognized the seal immediately: it was from none other than –

"Endeavour," he read aloud, slowly, and Todoroki let out a hiss like steam. In one fluid motion, he turned on one heel to face the window, returning his hands to his pockets.

"The only internship offer I get is from the old man. It's almost funny. The one person I don't want to emulate."

Something in the word _don't_ struck a chord in Izuku, and suddenly he knew exactly what to say.

"Todoroki-kun," he began for the third time, "do you know what kind of hero you want to be?"

"Hm? One who's nothing like Endeavour."

"That's your problem."

"…What?" The other glanced back at Izuku over one shoulder, brow creased, and Izuku straightened, raising his chin.

"I came to Yuuei with a vision of the kind of hero I wanted to be…the kind who always saves people with a smile. That's _my_ dream. You…you came here wanting _not_ to be something. How can you move forward like that?"

Todoroki turned fully now, blinking silently at him, and Izuku took this as invitation to go on.

"If you spend all your time avoiding your own Quirk and focusing on what you _don't_ wanna do, you're gonna fall behind, Todoroki-kun. I feel like I've said this before, somewhere, but…your Quirk belongs to you. Make it your own." The dual Quirk user had no way of knowing that Izuku, too, held two Quirks, nor that the phrase _make it your own_ couldn't have come from a more personal place, but Izuku pumped it full of as much emotion as he could muster all the same. "Think of what kind of hero you wanna be, instead of working in negative space."

There was a moment of silence, then, unbelievably, a knock on the door, and both Izuku and Todoroki spun to face it – only to see none other than All Might striding in, in full muscle form.

" _ **I am…coming through the door like a normal person!"**_ the number one hero declared, wearing that trademark grin of his, and without hesitating, he pulled a wad of letters from his pocket, fatter than either Tokoyami's or Bakugou's.

"All Might!" Izuku blurted out. "How, um, how'd you know we were here?"

"Security cameras, young Midoriya. Shouldn't you two be at lunch?"

"It's my fault," Todoroki piped up. "I…wanted to talk." Like Izuku, Todoroki wasn't quite sure how to handle the sudden turn of events.

"Ah. Yes, that would be…reasonable," All Might acknowledged, and Izuku had a feeling his mentor knew exactly what Todoroki had wanted to discuss. "But I'm not here to punish you two, don't worry. I'm here for a happier reason…my apologies for the delay on these, young Midoriya. We had a few last-minute requests."

Izuku stared in disbelief as the two-inch-thick pile of letters was thrust towards him.

After a moment, he took it, thumbing through them, and his heart skipped a beat when he saw the seal on one of them: the letter E stamped in bold font, engulfed in flames that burned a purgatorial red.

 _Endeavour._


	17. Chapter 17

**It's come to my attention that at least one person believes this is a ripoff of "The Immortal Hero: Phoenix". First off: can you give me a valid reason to do that? Because I cannot find one.**

 **Second: if you seriously believe that, check the publication dates. If you do not understand how time works, I'll sum it up: May comes** _ **before**_ **June.**

 **In addition, the "Phoenix Izuka" account was created the day I put Phoenix on hiatus – June 18** **th** **.**

 **This chapter references the rewrite of the entrance exam, which hasn't actually happened yet as of the publication of this chapter (Chapter 2's rewrite should be releasing at some point soonish). tl;dr the exam ends closer to canon for the sake of what happens with regard to Ochako's Quirk.**

 _ **Huge**_ **thanks to the IzuOcha discord and in particular my friends Baku and Vi for helping me work out the details for this story as a whole (including some of the random heroes under which the others intern). Additional gratitude to the rest of the writers there for dealing with me on a daily basis.**

* * *

"Why?"

Todoroki's voice rang out across the empty classroom, echoing off of the desks, the tiled floor, and Izuku turned to face him, clutching the letter in one clenched fist.

"Because you were going to accept, weren't you?"

The two faced one another, seven feet apart. Outside, a bird called, and Todoroki took a breath, closing his eyes for a couple of long seconds. When he opened them again, the look in them told Izuku he'd conceded defeat.

"How'd you know?"

"As much as you hate your father and his power, you couldn't get him off your mind during the festival, could you?" Izuku gave a rueful little smile; it wasn't comparable in terms of sheer magnitude, but he knew what it felt like. "Hating someone, but always tagging along, trying to prove yourself to them, that you're either not like them or that you're worthy to stand next to them…you decided to go the minute you got the letter, didn't you?"

Todoroki was silent. Izuku bowed his head.

"I'm gonna go with you. Even if you don't think you need anyone, it can't hurt to have a friend there."

"…A friend?" Todoroki echoed, softly, and Izuku gave a single, firm nod. "Even after…?"

"Yeah." A beat. "I'd probably take the internship there anyway. He _is_ the number two hero, and we both have a fire-based Quirk."

"About that," the other interrupted. "Your Quirk isn't just fire. It's not just…being able to come back to life, either."

"I mean, it gives me phoenix powers, which…I guess includes wings." The atmosphere was suddenly very, very thin, and Izuku had a feeling –

"Are you All Might's secret love child?"

 _Okay, never mind._ He hadn't been expecting that _at all._

"Todoroki-kun – well, no, but – what even gives you that idea?" he spluttered, torn between laughter and panic. "Why - ?"

A shrug. "You name your attacks with _smash_ at the end and they have similar destructive power, though All Might's Quirk doesn't hurt him like yours hurts you."

"Uh, nope, just a fanboy," he chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "Anyway, shouldn't we get to lunch?"

* * *

On and off for the past week, he'd been unable to really get the _rumors_ out of his head. As with all "breaking news", the story of the attack on Yuuei's stadium had come and gone (though, to everyone's relief, the media hadn't blamed Yuuei this time; the situation had simply been too _freak_ for them to start pointing fingers). Aside from lunch the day the internship invitations had been handed out, he'd been keeping to himself in classes, only walking with Ochako and Iida and rarely speaking.

He wasn't _sad_ per se; the Yuuei teachers had called him into the lounge the next day to reassure him that the tornado was not his fault after the rumors had come to light, and when Nezu explained what the villain's Quirk was, he felt much better about that side of things.

Even so, there was still one thing nagging him: he'd had the power to save a life and had forgotten about it. He tried his hardest to push the thought out of his mind.

When he and Todoroki returned to the cafeteria, they were immediately waved over to 1-A's usual table by Ochako, Yaoyorozu, Sero, Mina, and Kaminari; to the boys' surprise, two trays had been set aside for them, sparing them a trip to the other side of the room. The awkwardness of Todoroki's presence was minimal, and Izuku had a feeling that his own forgiveness of the other as well as his response to the accident (and possibly Yaoyorozu) had convinced the rest of the class that it had been just that – an accident. _It's not like Quirk-based accidents are unheard of. Just look at Mount Lady…_

"Thanks, Ochako," Izuku huffed thoughtlessly, sliding into his usual spot between her and Iida, and he didn't quite comprehend the stares he received until Mina squealed and began whispering furiously in what he could only presume was Tooru's ear.

"A-ah, Deku-kun, you…um…" Ochako stammered out; he only had a momentary glimpse of her face, burning red, before she buried it in her hands (largely to hide the grin that had spread across her treacherous lips).

 _Oh. Oh, no._

Ordinarily, using a first name with no honorific was indicative of a very close relationship. It was common to hear parents refer to their children as such, but between two people who weren't related, that relationship was usually _lovers_ , and while he and Ochako weren't lovers, he couldn't deny there'd been _something_ between them for a while now…

He remembered the half-kiss she'd pressed to the corner of his lips all those weeks ago and shivered.

Yaoyorozu, sensing his discomfort, cleared her throat loudly. "So, our internships. Have we decided where we're going yet?" she asked, half-shouting, and Iida glanced up from his notebook.

 _What has he been doing all day…?_

"I've decided I'm interning with the hero Manual, in Hosu," the vice-representative announced, straightening his glasses ( _compulsively_ , Izuku noted). "I think such an internship would be good for getting some simple, on-the-ground experience in the day-to-day activities of a hero."

"I um, haven't decided yet," Ochako admitted, gaze drifting down to her chopsticks as she toyed with some rice. "I wanted to do something with combat to help me get an edge, since it's not really my strong suit, y'know?"

"They have internships with combat heroes in the general listings," Yaoyorozu pointed out. "If you want, we could look over some later? I'm not going for a combat internship, but I'd be happy to help you look."

"Really? Thanks, Yaomomo!" Suddenly, both girls went from dead serious to beaming, and none of the boys knew what to do until Sero spoke up.

"I'm gonna be getting some general training with Lancelot, the Lance Hero!" – except there was a dab of soy sauce on the edge of his cheek, and a couple of people snorted. Kaminari threw a napkin at him. When he'd cleaned himself up, he went on, albeit more subdued than he'd been: "My tape's got a lot of uses, but one thing I lack is power. Found that out the hard way against Bakugou. I'm thinking maybe I'll figure something out with his help that'll help me get stronger."

"Maybe a support item?" Mina suggested, ducking back into the conversation.. "I was thinking about getting one myself to help me spray my acid further. I have to get too close to do much right now…"

"Like a hose nozzle?" prompted Yaoyorozu. The pink-skinned girl nodded enthusiastically, curls bobbing.

"Yeah! Just like that. Hey, what about you two?" she added, leaning across the table to poke Izuku and Todoroki with a chopstick each. "What are you guys gonna do?"

The two boys exchanged glances; seeing Todoroki's carefully neutral expression, Izuku swallowed his food and answered her. "We're gonna be interning with Endeavour."

"Both of you?" Kaminari cut in. "Wow. I gotta be honest, I'm kinda surprised after…well, y'know."

" _Tactless!"_ hissed Jirou from his other side; evidently, she'd been keeping an ear on things, and Izuku had to wonder why they kept sitting together as she gave him a sharp poke with one of her jacks.

"No, I understand." Todoroki's voice took them by surprise. "I lost control of myself. Most hero agencies don't want that kind of liability, especially on someone with such a dangerous Quirk."

Kaminari nodded. "I feel you. My One Million Volts is enough to knock people out as it stands, but if I get stronger, I might reach a point where it turns lethal."

Yaoyorozu was the only one unfazed by his unexpectedly serious prediction, but before anyone could say anything about it, Tokoyami cut in from further down, opposite Tooru.

"If you want to discuss uncontrollable Quirks, Dark Shadow is exactly so in the night," he rumbled. "It becomes an insatiable beast, a devourer of the pure and wicked alike. Only the light may stay its bloodied hand."

There was a very, very long silence, then Mina gave an awkward little smile and asked: "So, uh, who are you gonna intern with, Tokoyami-kun?"

"Hawks."

"Whoa, really?" said Kaminari, all excitement; Izuku, too, jumped up, followed by Tooru, and from her other side, Ojirou leaned in, listening.

"Yes. Though I fear his offer has less to do with my ability and more so to do with the fact that I have the head of a bird." There was something impossibly _taciturn_ about this, to the point where it was almost funny, and a few people giggled. "Still, he is the number three hero. I shall learn what I can from him."

Lunch ended, and before any of the first years even knew it had happened, so had the entirety of the next week; ever since the previous Wednesday – the festival, or what it had devolved into – everything had been a blur, and it was only after Izuku and Ochako boarded their usual bus that either of them really registered what was about to happen.

"Hey, Izukkun," she mused aloud. "We're not gonna see each other in school 'til next Monday, and I'm gonna be headin' to Kanagawa the day after tomorrow…"

"Yeah?" He waited, politely.

"I was thinkin' maybe we could, um, hang out tomorrow?"

"Sure, where at?" he asked, not noticing her behavior until it was too late – she wasn't quite meeting his eyes, and she pushed the tips of all of her fingers together, something he'd already noticed she did when stressed.

"Um…well, just my place. I um, I'm not feelin' like going out, y'know? Just a day at home to enjoy some peace 'fore we go out on our internships."

Izuku stiffened.

He may have spent most of his life up until Yuuei completely isolated, but he had a keen intellect, the mind of an analyst; he'd noticed the differences in the way she interacted with him versus the way she interacted with the rest of her classmates, and something was definitely up. Maybe it was just their closeness – they'd been through a lot together in their short time at Yuuei. He couldn't believe that it could be anything other than that, really; he could pick out a dozen and one reasons he wasn't cut out for the alternative, which was…

Thinking about it made him shiver, and he didn't realize just how long he'd been silent until she coughed and he jumped. "Um, sure, I guess?"

"Great!" Her attitude brightened immediately, and that little smile lingered for the rest of their bus ride.

By the time they'd reached their stop, the sun had passed its highest arc, hanging about three-quarters of the way up between the sky's midpoint and the horizon. With a yawn, Izuku leaned forward, stretching; its hot rays warmed his shoulders through his uniform, and he cracked his fingers, studying the scarring on his knuckles from the entrance exam. It seemed so long ago that he'd smashed in the head of a robot the size of a skyscraper, terrified and exhilarated and absolutely desperate to save Ochako…

"Are you nervous?" he asked her.

"Really nervous. Yaomomo helped me find an internship with a combat based hero who goes by…Va-ru…mon-tu?" She stumbled over the name's pronunciation, then shrugged. "Anyway. He's pretty good at martial arts, so I'm gonna try and learn to fight and move to get in close with my Quirk."

 _My Quirk._ Memories of the entrance exam still fresh in his mind, he bit his lip, remembering how she'd used it to drop robots like ragdolls…how she'd forced herself into the air, knowing it would make her sick, to float him and save his life as he fell –

 _Wait._

"Ochako, your Quirk's called Zero Gravity, right?" he asked her, shooting her a sidelong glance, and she nodded enthusiastically, pressing her fingertips together.

"Mhm! I thought you'd know that by now, Izukkun," she teased, grinning, and he chuckled.

"Well…remember that maths lesson the other day? They gave us a word problem about gravity…but something in it bothered me…." He slipped his phone out of his pocket, then opened the browser, keying in a few words; a moment later, he handed it over, and she read over the screen, swiping the tip of one finger up its face a few times to scroll.

"So, if my Quirk actually removed gravity, it would send anything I touched into space?" she mused. "I mean, we haven't had physics lessons yet outside middle school…"

"Well, no, but this isn't a difficult concept to understand. Removing the pull anchoring something to the planet would immediately subject it to the other forces still acting on it…which makes me think that maybe your Quirk isn't zero gravity. Plus," he added, the entrance exam replaying in his mind's eye a third time, "if it just removed gravity, I'd have still hit the ground during the entrance exam…."

Silence, for a few seconds. When Ochako spoke next, her voice was thoughtful, which sent a thrill of hope through Izuku – was she catching on to what he was trying to say? "So my Quirk's somethin' else entirely…?"

"Most likely. If you want, I can work on some ideas for it tonight?" he offered, pulling one of his many notebooks from his bag with a flourish. "If your Quirk has other uses, you might be able to do more with it in combat, too."

"Sounds awesome, Izukkun!" she declared, pumping her fist, and he couldn't help laughing. "We can go over it at my house tomorrow, 'kay?"

"Alright. I'll be looking forward to it."

Overhead, the sun shone just a little bit brighter.

* * *

That evening found Izuku hunched at his computer, notebook in hand and pen scrawling across its pages at mach speed.

He'd spent the past hour combing through possible Quirks for Ochako, attempting to figure out just _how_ exactly her Quirk operated. The first thing he'd thought besides Zero Gravity was "Antigravity", which would keep things operating within the reasonable laws of physics for the planet, but the thing that kept nagging at him was the fact that, by all accounts, he should have been killed on impact during the entrance exam…

"Think, Izuku," he lectured himself, rapping the pen smartly against his temple. "What would have let her decelerate me like that without killing me?"

He'd been stationary midair after smashing the zero-pointer, so by the time she'd slapped him –

"Twenty-three times the force of gravity!?" he screamed out loud, and a few seconds later his mother poked her head in, understandably concerned. When he'd reassured her that he was quite all right, she asked what he was up to, and he showed her the calculations he'd been doing; to his surprise, Midoriya Inko giggled like a schoolgirl.

"Oh, isn't that _sweet?_ " she gushed, hand over her mouth. Izuku was baffled.

"Uh, mom? What - ?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing! I just think it's sweet that you're so focused on what Uraraka-san's Quirk is, that's all!" Inko trilled.

He blinked.

"But maybe," she went on, expression turning thoughtful, "you're focusing too much on the idea of her Quirk making a force act on something? If you're trying to redefine it, start from the top!"

 _Start…from the top?_ "So…things her Quirk could do other than create a force…but that could still stop me falling without hurting me…?" he mused, and Inko nodded, enthusiastic.

"Izuku, sweetie, it's great that you're so focused, but sometimes you get tunnel vision," she chided gently. "Think outside the box a little more! It's okay to get creative sometimes, even if it doesn't work the first time."

"Think…outside the box…" Izuku murmured. "Thanks, mom. Do you, um, need help with anything?" he added, awkwardly; he'd barely been home for some time now, spending most of his time either at Yuuei or with Ochako, and as such he'd been neglecting the things he usually did to help out around the house. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd talked so much with his mother.

"I'm fine, Izuku," she chuckled. "But thank you. I understand you're growing up. You don't wanna be hanging around an old bag like me all the time." Though her tone was teasing, Izuku felt a stab of something like grief, and he stood, enveloping his mother in a very sudden hug.

"You're not an old bag, mom." His voice was unexpectedly hard with emotion, and though she was a little surprised, Inko returned the hug in full, patting her son gently on the back.

He'd always been close to his mother – it was likely a result of his Quirklessness, his absent father (though he provided for them, was he really a father? Izuku never felt like it), and his loneliness – but ever since he'd been accepted to Yuuei, his world had grown exponentially, and suddenly she wasn't such a figure anymore….

"Just remember I love you, okay, Izuku?"

"I love you too, mom."

* * *

"Heya, Izukkun!" Ochako waved, grinning as wide as her rosy cheeks would let her, and Izuku felt himself smiling in return.

"Hey, Ochako-chan."

"Ochako-chan?" she echoed, and her grin shifted to something a little softer. "I like it."

"I'm…I'm glad." _Why am I blushing!?_ "I, um, I brought some notes?" he offered, trying not to appear too flustered, and she took the notebook, still beaming.

"Ooh! I can't wait to see what you came up with!" Excited, she clutched the book to her chest, spinning on one foot and watching the sky above.

They'd agreed to get lunch and bring it back to her apartment; when he met her at the entrance to her apartment building, she'd had her hair tied back in a ponytail, wearing a tank top under a sheer crop-top and a pair of shorts. Naturally, Izuku had found himself steaming at the ears, but she hadn't even seemed to notice; by comparison, he appeared very _plain_ , his hair in its usual bush formation and clad in his usual red high-tops with cargo shorts and a t-shirt.

"Hmm…so you think my Quirk's got nothin' to do with gravity at all, huh?" she asked as they walked, her sandals slapping mutely against the pavement. Izuku bit his lip and nodded, prepared to explain himself, but she flipped a couple pages and –

– _oh god no that's the drawing that's not –_

"Um, Izukkun…this is…"

"Y-yeah…"

She closed the notebook and the atmosphere suddenly became very awkward.

"You're…a really good artist," she offered, after a moment's silence, but all he could come out with was a feeble "T-thanks", and when they reached the noodle stand they'd been making their steady way towards, the woman at the counter stifled a laugh behind her hand.

Izuku was reminded, harshly, of the sweetshop vendor; from the way her blush immediately dropped and her face paled, Ochako had received the same impression. Awkwardness forgotten, he leaned down and squeezed her hand – her fingers tightened around his own, and even though he knew he'd lose circulation if she gripped any harder, he held on, rubbing his thumb soothingly across the back of her hand.

The woman, thankfully, didn't notice this contact, and by the time they found themselves walking back to her apartment, noodles in hand, things had more or less returned to normal, though it was clear Ochako had a couple of questions.

"Um…how much time did you spend looking at me in my hero costume?"

"Enough to sketch it out, why?" he asked; she still hadn't let go of his hand, so he supposed it couldn't be _that_ bad…

"It's…really accurate. Um, down to…my, um, measurements."

When he realized what she meant, it was all he could do not to scream.

"N-not like that, Uraraka-san!" Izuku babbled, reverting to formal honorifics in his panic. "I just – I – "

"Izukkun," Ochako cut in. Something in her voice stopped him, and she went on: "It's – um, I'm okay with…"

 _With…with what!?_

Her jaw cracked, and he realized just how hard she was clenching it.

"Are you okay, Ochako-chan?" he murmured.

"Yeah, I just – "

A hard swallow, and she didn't finish. Another silence fell between them, but considering neither had let go of the other's hand, the atmosphere was not _rejection_ but rather _uncertainty._

When they reached her apartment, she finally did release him to fish for her keys; they sat together at the tiny dining table then, talking as if the earlier exchange simply hadn't happened.

"Force Manipulation," she read. The phrase in question was underlined several times at the top of the page in front of her, and Izuku nodded.

"Yeah. If you check out the math, the deceleration from the slap you gave me would have still subjected me to twenty-three times the force of gravity." He pointed to some calculations, meticulously copied from the scrap paper now lying in crumpled balls in the wire wastebasket back in his room. "So…whatever you did, it's like you just _removed_ the kinetic energy, instead of counteracting it. So who's to say you can't _add_ kinetic energy, too? It looks like you do it when you float things, anyway…but instead of strengthening the normal force, you somehow change the way gravity affects things…"

"Huh…" Idly, Ochako floated her empty bowl, watching as it levitated a couple of inches off the table. "So I'm just changin' the way the one force is affectin' this bowl?"

"Um, theoretically. You release your Quirk by touching your fingerpads all together, right? Have you tried seeing what happens when you don't use all of them?" he offered.

"I remember trying to figure out how to 'turn it off' when I was little," she giggled; the sound was unexpected, but it made him feel warm inside. "I tried snappin' my fingers, but the toy I was floatin' just kinda spun around…"

 _Spun…that's it!_ "Try touching just your index finger and thumb pad together?" Izuku suggested.

She did. The bowl rotated a little and drifted about an inch to the left, still airborne.

"Aw, come on!" she snorted. "You're tellin' me that controllin' my Quirk wasn't a matter of thinkin' at it?" There was no response, and she turned to see Izuku scribbling frantically in the margins of his notebook. "Uh, Izukkun?" Ochako prodded, but she couldn't help a little smile seeing him so focused.

"Neh, sorry, Ochako. I was just making a note of that." Pen to his lips now, he held up his left hand, pinching his thumb and forefinger together. "Try turning your wrist and moving your fingers while keeping them together."

They spent the next couple of hours like this, making various objects float around Ochako's apartment; it started with the bowl, which simply floated in place, and moved on to a chair, a cup, Izuku, a lamp, the sofa, Izuku, the entire kitchenette set, the television remote, and Izuku. Slowly, she began to develop her technique, experimenting with different hand motions and fingerpad configurations to turn and accelerate objects in various directions, using her Quirk to reapply the force of gravity and send whatever she touched zooming around the apartment.

"Is there a reason you've used me for a test subject three times now?" he grumbled from the floor, rubbing his backside. He'd just suffered a rather unpleasant bump on the tailbone from an overexcited Ochako sending him across the room and failing to stop him before he collided with the wall.

"Because you let me, silly," she teased, and he couldn't even be irritated with her for the bruises on his elbows from a mishap with a table – he hadn't seen her this cheerful in a while, not since she'd found out that they'd both gotten into Yuuei. The past couple of months had been especially tough on her between her parents and the stadium attack, but he could see her starting to shine through again, starting to move forward, and –

 _It's beautiful._

He didn't realize she'd moved over to sit by him until she flopped onto the carpet at his side, letting out a long breath.

"Phew. My stomach hurts," she chuckled. "Let's take a break, Izukkun."

"Your stomach hurts already?" he asked, frowning. "You could go for way longer on the beach…"

"Yeah, I know," sighed Ochako. "Maybe it has somethin' to do with this new technique. I'm surprised I've never thought of doing this – I'm gonna be sixteen this year and I never thought about just usin' one hand…"

There was silence for a moment, and when Izuku glanced to his left, she'd closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, her breathing soft. "Occhan?" he whispered, tentatively, and she smiled, placing her right hand over his left.

"I like that name," she murmured back. "We match now, Izukkun."

On impulse, he shifted into a crouch, sliding one arm under her knees and encircling her middle with the other; standing, he brought her up with him, carrying her over to the sofa.

"Ah – Izukkun!" she squealed, wrapping her arms around his neck anyway. "What're ya - ?"

Softly, gently, he laid her down across the plush cushions, then straightened. "You looked sleepy," he pointed out. "I thought you might like to lay down somewhere more comfortable than the floor."

"Mm…but if I fall asleep, you'll just be sittin' here by yourself."

A shrug of well-built shoulders. "It's nothing I'm not used to." Even so, as he turned away, he felt a hand brush his bare forearm and, immediately afterward, the strange sensation of weightlessness that her Quirk brought; a second later, he floated into the air and backwards, plopping down onto the sofa with a muffled _thump._

Ochako, who'd sat up to make room for him, tucked her feet up onto the sofa and leaned on his shoulder, letting out a contented little sigh. "That's better."

Sleepy sunlight filtered in through the blinds, and silence had a five-minute reign before Izuku gave her a gentle nudge, pressing two fingers against her closest shoulder. "…Hey, Occhan?"

"Mm."

"What're we doing?"

"You're bein' my pillow." And, as if to make a point, she scooted a little closer and hugged his arm. He had absolutely no idea how to respond.

 _That's…not what I meant. I meant – what are you_ feeling? _Are you just being friendly? Am I overthinking this?_

 _Am I falling for my best friend?_

To Izuku, romance was always something far removed from his plain, quiet, Quirkless self; even if a girl back in middle school _had_ had a crush on him, he'd been paying them no attention. He'd lived in perpetual fear of someone recognizing him as _that Quirkless weirdo_ , or of Bakugou showing up and outing him as such, and besides, even if he'd had one, he'd have been too plain to like that way….

And yet, somehow, here was Uraraka Ochako, and if these weren't _feelings_ , he didn't know what was.

He swallowed, hard.

Regardless of how he felt, time marched along; the evening sped by, and Izuku found himself saying goodbye to Ochako much sooner than he wanted to.

"Promise me you're gonna stay safe, Izukkun." Her breath whispered across his ear, wrapped as they were in a tight hug, and he murmured back, feeling goosebumps prickle along his arms, his neck.

"I'll try, Occhan. That means you stay safe, too."

"We're trainin' to be heroes, silly. You an' I both know that means no promises…but I'll try, too." She pulled back a little, not letting go of him, and in the twilight, her radiant smile lit up the hallway for just a moment before she moved in and pressed her lips to his cheek.

 _A kiss…?_

Stunned, blushing, he could only stand there as she giggled in a very girlish sort of way, then extracted herself from his embrace and gave his hand one final squeeze. "See ya in a week, Izukkun!"

"Y-yeah. Um, see you," he called back, and she closed the door with a soft _click_ that was somehow impossibly loud in the deserted apartment stairwell.

* * *

Monday.

As far as Izuku knew, everyone who'd gotten an internship would be starting today; he couldn't remember where most of his classmates were stationed, but he did remember that Iida would be in Hosu under the hero Manual, while Todoroki would of course be interning under Endeavour with Izuku himself. Hawks, who routinely patrolled massive swathes of the prefecture, would likely be sweeping over Hosu with Tokoyami, so there was also a chance that they'd run into their moody classmate at some point.

He sat by himself on the train, wondering if perhaps he should have contacted Todoroki and offered to come with him – it couldn't be easy for his aloof classmate, agreeing to an internship with his own father, the man he detested – but there was no use worrying about it now.

The sky overhead was stained pink with the dawn, no signs of the storm that had devastated the Yuuei stadium a week and a half prior; Izuku had tried his hardest to put the guilt out of his mind, aided somewhat by Nezu's announcement that the villain's Quirk – Cataclysm – had likely been what turned the thunderstorm into a tornado, and not the storm's own power, but he'd still catch glimpses of that pale, drained face and smears of blood in his dreams.

The number two hero's offices were tall buildings, the interiors lavishly decorated with deep red carpeting and gold-plated statuettes; the walls were, for the most part, paneled in wood planks stained a brown so rich it was almost black. Izuku could have mistaken it for a high-end hotel, only there were no bellhops, no guests, no _life_ , just a lonely clerk at the front desk.

There was an awkward few seconds as he approached the man, hesitantly placing the forms he'd been instructed to bring on the spotless marble surface. "I'm here to see – "

"I know why you're here," the other interrupted. Izuku blanched. Like Aizawa, everything about him (besides his state of dress) screamed _disinterest_ , an utter lack of concern with current affairs; unlike Aizawa, his words didn't hint at any deeper emotion buried beneath the facade, and his tone was more irritated than bored. "He'll be with you shortly. The other one arrived not long ago, I imagine he's still – "

" _ **Midoriya Izuku!"**_

Izuku jumped. He couldn't help it. Todoroki Enji was a very loud man when he wanted to be.

Spinning on the spot, he gave a hasty bow, fumbling for words, but it seemed that Endeavour didn't particularly care for formalities, as he clapped one (massive) hand to Izuku's shoulder and fixed the green-haired boy with a haughty glare down his pointed nose – a gesture made all the more terrifying by the fact that the man's facial hair seemed to be _literally comprised of fire._

Todoroki Shouto trailed ten feet behind his father, watching Izuku's response; his expression was carefully veiled, revealing nothing, and when Endeavour had finished his scrutiny of the newcomer, he gave a curt nod that Izuku couldn't interpret.

"There's a lot of fire in this one," Endeavour declared to no one in particular. "As I suspected. I'd heard of your Quirk, but when I saw it for myself at the festival…" The number two hero gave a snort that Izuku couldn't interpret, then crossed his arms. "I've already told Shouto this, but we'll be spending today assessing what you're capable of. Once I've determined how weak you both are, we'll begin the slow, grueling process of making you stronger."

 _Is he trying to get under our skin…?_

"So. Follow me. Try and keep up – my colleagues need to be competent, and if you can't manage, you might as well go home right now."

Endeavour set off at a trot and was halfway across the lobby before Izuku realized what was happening.

True to his word, the elevator they stepped into took them directly to the thirteenth floor, and after a brief, brisk walk down a hallway, Endeavour hung a sharp right and pushed open a mahogany pair of French doors, beyond which lay –

"A dojo?" Izuku couldn't help letting out a gasp. To his right, Todoroki shoved his hands into his pockets, utterly unenthused.

"That's just how he is," the other boy shrugged, and when Izuku shot him a questioning glance, he didn't elaborate.

They were instructed to change into the hero costumes they'd brought, then return to the dojo. Upon their return, Endeavour stood waiting in the middle of the room, hair and beard in full flame.

" _ **First!"**_ the hero boomed. The stained-panel walls here, Izuku noted, were scorched, and if he'd looked closer, he would have noticed that they were actually marble and not wood. The laminate birch-plank flooring of the hallway gave way to some sort of polished stone in here; it wasn't typical of the dojos Izuku had seen in books and online, but judging from the burns all over the room, Endeavour himself used it on a fairly routine basis, and wood wouldn't last long for obvious reasons. "I'll have you attack me to see for myself what you can do. Hit me with everything you've got. Shouto – you'll begin."

The reaction was instant – frozen fury _screamed_ across the floor, but where a lesser man would have cowered from the wall of jagged ice raging for him, Todoroki Enji simply raised one hand and blasted crimson fire straight through Todoroki Shouto's attack, leaving nothing but a puddle that spanned the floor between father and son.

"Weak."

Izuku, from the corner of his eye, spotted Todoroki's left hand clench into a fist.

"Weak," Endeavour repeated, " _and_ foolish. Why do you come at me with only ice, knowing my Quirk's power?" Teeth ground to Izuku's right, but Todoroki didn't speak, and Endeavour turned to his other intern. "Midoriya. You next."

He glanced at Todoroki, but the other was silent, unmoving.

 _What are you thinking?_

There was no way to tell.

Gritting his teeth, Izuku bent his knees, feeling One For All surge through his body – a moment's concentration and the angry red lines crisscrossing his entire body crackled into green lightning instead, whipping and snaking its way across his arms, his legs, his torso: _Full Cowling._

 _Endeavour's Quirk is Hellfire, which grants him incredibly powerful pyrokinetic abilities…but he's not the number two hero for nothing. Even at a glance, it's obvious he's trained his body as well as his Quirk, probably to compensate for the latter's potential shortcomings at close range…._

His eyes flickered back and forth between Todoroki and Endeavour.

 _The problem Todoroki-kun has is that he's weak when it comes to close-quarters combat. His Quirk is best suited for fighting at a distance from his opponents, where he can focus and control his powers…on the flip side, Endeavour is_ capable _of ranged combat, but he seems to prefer getting in close. Possibly because he can overwhelm people by augmenting himself with his own flames…?_

Mind racing, Izuku didn't even realize he'd been standing still for so long until a vortex of fire whirled up in front of his face, making him jump. "Midoriya." – and somehow Endeavour's speaking voice was even louder than his earlier shout, in this quiet place, and Izuku bit his lip.

 _How am I supposed to get around so much fire? Fire isn't something you can just punch away…and without using One For All at one hundred percent, I don't exactly have the power to counter it unless it happens to incinerate me. I definitely don't want to trigger Rebirth, though…_

Unbidden, his mother's voice reached his ears:

" _Think outside the box a little more! It's okay to get creative sometimes, even if it doesn't work the first time."_

His brain had immediately jumped to two possible solutions, both of which would incapacitate him. Instead of trying to work out a new solution, he'd instinctively stuck to that dogma. He'd been about to do the same thing he'd done during the entrance exam, during the apprehension test, during their first combat exercise – but if he wanted to be a hero, he couldn't do that. Even All Might, whose fighting style was deceptively simple, was in actuality always changing up his approach to new problems and finding ways to bend One For All to whatever purpose he needed.

 _Of course. I'm working with what I have, instead of making what I have work with me. Besides, this is designed to test our weaknesses…and even though Endeavour looks relaxed, he's probably expecting me to come in for a punch and I'll get tossed away the second I attack. So, instead of asking myself what I can do with my Quirk…what can my Quirk – no, what can my_ Quirks _do for me?_

One For All let him tap into a reservoir of power that his body physically couldn't handle all of, but he knew what its full strength was capable of from watching videos of All Might. Phoenix was still up in the air, but so far he'd figured out that it could grant him augmented strength, added heat to his blows, and – when he was able to summon wings - some form of air control. Rebirth, on the other hand – he'd exhibited true pyrokinesis while under its influence, as well as what he was fairly certain was full flight and a strength boost, though not on the same scale as One For All.

 _Maybe…maybe Rebirth is what Phoenix will be capable of if I train it enough?_ he mused. _But right now, I don't have the firepower to deal with Endeavour's, so I think One For All might be the better option._

He might not be able to punch away the flames…but as he stared down at his own hand, he realized there _was_ something he could do to disrupt them. If he could bait them out, then use them as a smokescreen…!

As if responding to the current of his emotions, red-gold fire licked up his forearms. _Good. Whatever boost Phoenix can give me can only make this more likely to work -_

"If you won't attack me," Endeavour rumbled, "then I'll just have to see how much you can take!" The hero's shout sent a thrill of excitement through Izuku – it looked like he wouldn't have to bait out the flames with a fake-out after all.

 _Now!_

As another torrent of fire surged forth, Izuku braced himself, channeling as much of One For All as he knew he could handle and then some into his arm; his own flames coalesced along the outer edge of his ulna into a familiar pattern of jagged, burning feathers, and he bent his arm at the elbow, bringing it down in a sweep as he threw himself straight into the attack.

It wasn't the wave of wind he'd been hoping for – he'd need more power for that – but Phoenix's added strength gave him the extra push he needed to dispel the worst of the flames directly in front of him with a rush of air, and he quite literally jumped through the rest, bringing up his other arm as he burst out of the other side and drove a fist directly for the number two hero's chest –

"Hmph. Interesting strategy."

… _Huh!?_

Endeavour had, without much difficulty, caught Izuku's fist in his own palm.

"While it failed," he went on, raising a single eyebrow through his scowl, "it was certainly more effective than Shouto's plan of attack."

A pause. The larger man released his fist, and Izuku brushed off his smouldering clothes.

"You have potential, Midoriya."

* * *

"Wow. That's really cool!"

"Developing power is within thy reach. Thou deem'st it 'cool' by thy own ignorance!"

Sero Hanta sighed and planted his face in his hands.

He'd always figured that the Lance Hero, Lancelot, was simply putting up a front that would drop behind closed doors, but no – it seemed that Lancelot took his role-playing very, very seriously…for better or for worse.

"So, uh, how am I supposed to, um, develop power?" Sero asked, trying to remain attentive and respectful. It was his first day interning under the hero, and like Endeavour, Lancelot had decided to assess what his temporary protégé was capable of, starting with a brief demonstration of his own Quirk.

The Quirk in question, _Lance_ , was relatively simple: when holding an object with a length of at least ten times its width, Lancelot was able to output incredible force by performing a jabbing or thrusting attack. The exact amount of force was affected by a variety of factors – the size of the weapon, the power with which the hero made his attacks – but, from what Sero had seen, a six-foot spear with a head the size of his own hand was enough for Lancelot to smash through a foot of solid concrete from five meters away.

"Simple, squire! I began with power and developed technique. Thou hath technique, but thy Quirk leaveth much to be desired within the realm of pure strength." The hero replaced the spear on a wall-mounted weapon rack (where it joined five identical copies of itself, all of which had some degree of damage along their shaft), then turned to Sero, hands on his hips. "Thy Quirk hast not force of its own, but hast thou considered using the world around thee to thy advantage?"

Sero took a moment to parse through the man's barely-comprehensible amalgam of imitation old English and Japanese – if Lancelot hadn't had a double-digit rank, he'd have probably written the hero off as a loon (and, frankly, that was still a risk), but Lancelot must have been doing _something_ right to escape the triple-digits, where hundreds of aspirant heroes languished in relative obscurity. "What are you talking about?" was the question he eventually came out with.

"Simple!" thundered the hero once again, voice echoing inside his helmet; Sero winced a little at how _loud_ he was. "In the aftermath of catastrophe, there is much to be turned to mine own use! Even the streets bear potential untap'd – a simple post, in my hands, becometh a spear to pierce the heavens!" To demonstrate, he grabbed the stainless-steel bar of an empty weapon rack and pulled it straight down, tearing it from its mount and cracking the floor beneath him with the force of it before whirling and taking a one-handed jab at the same concrete wall he'd broken through earlier.

A single crack appeared in the drab grey surface, and Lancelot waited for Sero's reaction.

"So, you're saying I should just…break shit and use it as weapons?"

…Not _exactly_ what the hero had been hoping for, but it was a step in the right direction.

* * *

"He's just trying to make me look bad."

Izuku couldn't say he hadn't been expecting this at some point. Todoroki's silent, brooding rage had been boiling just beneath the surface for the entire assessment.

"I've never heard him praise anyone," the heterochrome went on. "And everything he said to me…couldn't you hear the scorn in it?"

"Yeah," Izuku sighed. "Do you…want me to say something? I'm sorry I didn't." – and he meant this. The atmosphere had been distinctly uncomfortable, but he hadn't wanted to escalate it into anything more, and he couldn't think of a way to communicate this to Todoroki without actually speaking aloud.

"No."

They stood quietly outside the dojo room as Endeavour and a pair of his sidekicks did…well, _something_ inside; neither boy knew what, but there was a lot of banging and shouting, and at one point the doors shuddered with some unseen impact.

"It's…not your job to fix things. I'm sorry I dragged you into this." Todoroki tucked his thumbs into the pockets of his hero uniform – navy blue now, and built to regulate his temperature, unlike the first iteration of the costume – and stared at his shoes, but Izuku shook his head furiously, pushing himself away from the wall to stand at full height before his fellow intern.

"Todoroki-kun, I brought _myself_ into this," he corrected. "Besides, it isn't like I'm not going to benefit from it, so you don't need to feel bad that I'm wasting my internship or something. If I can be here as your friend _and_ intern under the number two hero, I'm gonna do both." He knew it was making him sound selfish – as if Todoroki's well-being had been an afterthought – but if Todoroki knew that worry for his friend was why he'd been able to make his choice of internship so easily, the heterochrome wouldn't have forgiven himself.

The other didn't respond, but he tilted his head just enough for his hair to fall over the scars on the left side of his face.

"…Do you think you can make it through the whole internship like this, Todoroki-kun?" Izuku murmured.

"I've made it this far."

"And look where it's gotten you!" He hadn't been intending to snap, but he'd picked up a few unfortunate traits from Bakugou Katsuki at some point. "I…I think it's important to come to terms with who you are, Todoroki-kun."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Todoroki shot back. "Haven't we talked about this already?"

"Didn't you learn from the sports festival?" he whispered.

As if he'd uttered some kind of incantation, both the air and his classmate went deathly still and silent; after a moment, Todoroki straightened, raising one arm so that his forearm faced Izuku, the burn scars from Izuku's Rebirth trigger angry and red.

"I learned that I'm too weak," Todoroki hissed back. "I didn't control myself. I wasn't strong enough – "

"Stop it!"

Izuku's shout was absorbed by the plush carpeting, but it still rang off the walls and ceiling of the hallway.

"That's – that isn't the lesson you should have taken away from that at all!" he went on, and tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. "Being strong would mean breaking away from all of this and not letting it touch you anymore!" _Deep breaths, Izuku._ "Todoroki-kun, I can't – I can't say I know anything about what your life must have been like."

No response, but Todoroki held his gaze.

"But what I can say is…have the strength to be your own person, Todoroki-kun," Izuku said. "It's not easy when you've lived your entire life under the standards someone else set you. I'll respect your wishes if you don't want me to say anything for you…but that means you gotta say it for yourself."

The doors creaked open again, and had Izuku still been leaning against them, he'd have fallen flat on his back into the dojo. On their other side stood a distinctly disgruntled Endeavour, a visible bruise on one cheek, and the two sidekicks, one of whom seemed a little dazed.

"Like I said." The hero crossed his arms. "My colleagues need to be competent. We're going to work on getting you there."

* * *

For the rest of that day, their training consisted mainly of basic hand-to-hand combat and honing their reflexes. The banging they'd heard had simply been the training equipment being dragged out, ranging from simple punching bags to droids designed to launch jabs at them from random angles. Izuku struggled with the latter, taking a few particularly nasty hits on the knees before he'd warmed up; he could have used One For All, which seemed to increase his reaction speed during Full Cowling, but Endeavour had explicitly stated that they were not to use their Quirks.

In spite of their treatment as "guests", Izuku rapidly found himself worked down to the bone in a way he hadn't been in months. He'd relented somewhat on All Might's "American Dream Plan", which had been designed to whip him into enough shape within ten months that he'd be able to handle One For All without his limbs exploding, but even so, he _thought_ he'd been keeping a reasonable exercise schedule and dieting properly.

 _Just goes to show we have a long way to go, I guess_ , he thought to himself at the end of that first day, watching Endeavour – who'd trained right alongside them the entire time – replacing the equipment with the help of a different pair of sidekicks, completely unbothered by the rigorous exercise they'd just been put through. Izuku and Todoroki, on the other hand, were both winded and sweating, breathing hard and stretching their aching muscles.

On the morning of the second day, they were woken at eight sharp by a fully dressed Endeavour, who – from the looks of things – had already been up for some time. "Criminal scum likes to operate at night," he told them. "Catch them at their weakest, when they're retreating for the day."

 _Wait…he's already been out on patrol?_

"Your plan for the rest of the week is this: today through tomorrow afternoon, we'll be working on those pathetic Quirks of yours. Tomorrow evening, you will join me on patrol. On Thursday, we will be patrolling. Friday will be training review, evening patrol, and then you will head home. Is that clear?"

"Hai! – ah, um, yes, sir!" Izuku stammered out, still half-asleep in the guest bunk; Todoroki was somehow already fully awake and heading for the shower, and when Endeavour left the room, Izuku scrambled after his fellow intern.

When they'd both showered and cleaned themselves up, they found both a minimal breakfast and their freshly laundered hero costumes folded nearly in the next room; after eating and changing, they made their way down to the training room again, Izuku trying to make small talk, Todoroki ignoring him.

"We'll start with having you two spar opponents on your own level," Endeavour rumbled the moment they entered. Izuku was confused – were there other interns there? – until he raised one arm to point, flipping his index finger like a lever between the two of them. "Stand at opposite ends of the center floor. On my signal, you will attack. Understand?"

 _Wait, what!? Wasn't he paying attention during the sports festival!?_ "I don't think this is – " he started.

Endeavour cut in. "Is there a problem, Midoriya?"

 _Yes, there is!_ He took a deep breath, then gathered his thoughts, trying to sound respectful: "I'm sorry, but I don't think having Todoroki-kun and I fight is the best idea after what happened at the sports festival." Izuku bowed as he spoke, hoping to avoid a repeat of the festival – he didn't think Phoenix would cause any serious damage to the room, considering its deliberate fireproofing, but unlike Endeavour, Todoroki had no innate flame resistance that Izuku knew of…

"That's exactly why I'm having you two spar."

… _ **What!?**_

"If Shouto is too weak to control himself this time, then he's not suited to be a hero. Your Quirk allows you to regenerate from fatal damage, does it not?" Though his words were cruel, Endeavour's expression didn't waver from his usual hard, scowling stare, and Izuku felt a chill run down his spine.

"Only once each day that I'm aware of," he responded, trying to keep his voice from shaking. "And…the worse the damage is, the more powerful the activation…"

 _Which is why you caused a thunderstorm at the sports festival,_ and he shoved the thoughts aside.

"Hmph. I will mediate – if Shouto appears to lose control, I will wall you two off from one another," the hero ( _can I even call him a hero right now!?_ ) declared. "He's too weak to get through."

Izuku knew this would incense Todoroki, and sure enough, his classmate's fists were clenched; still, the moment Endeavour turned to stride for the side of the room, he reached out and brushed his own fingers against the back of Todoroki's left hand, shooting him a _look_ , an unspoken plea _._

 _Don't let him get to you. You're above this, Todoroki-kun._

The fist didn't fully unclench, but it relaxed, and Todoroki crossed the room to face him from the opposite side of the ring.

"Midoriya. Shouto," Endeavour announced, turning back to face them. "Your weakness is the other's strength. Victory is the essence of a hero, and you must learn to overcome your weaknesses to achieve it."

A pause. _My weakness…is Todoroki-kun's strength?_

" _ **Begin!"**_

Lost in thought, Izuku was a little late to respond, and a wave of ice swept towards him from Todoroki's end of the ring; the sight of it was enough to spur him to action, and he barely managed to summon up One For All before throwing himself a little clumsily to the right. Todoroki wasn't fazed, however, and not a second later, the ice changed course, angling straight for him – he lunged forward, past the wall, but Todoroki sent up another right in front of him and he crashed into it, hard –

 _If I don't move, I'll be frozen in place! But where am I supposed to go…?_

Ice walled him in from the left and front; Todoroki's response time was too quick for him to consider darting around the right side of the ice – which obscured him from his erstwhile opponent's view – but, as he took a step back to survey his surroundings, he realized there was one more opening he could take, one that Todoroki most likely wouldn't be expecting – and even if he _did_ expect Izuku to attack from overhead, the "travel time" on his ice (that is, the brief delay between its formation and movement) would grant Izuku the window he needed, right…?

There was, however, one problem: when he jumped, he'd either collide with the ceiling, or he'd have to wait for gravity to pull him back down; either way, there'd be a lull. I _s there some way I can change my velocity more quickly than that?_

"Shouto! Are you so complacent as to give him time to plan out his escape!" he heard Endeavour bark. "Do not hesitate – finish the fight!"

… _Oh._

Izuku could hardly believe he'd taken so long to figure it out. He'd yet again found himself locked into his current abilities – _break free! Plus Ultra!_ – that he hadn't even considered using the ceiling to his _advantage_ rather than viewing it as an obstacle.

 _Okay! Get ready for this, Todoroki-kun!_

He jumped.

* * *

"Tokoyami, bud, you've got one hell of a Quirk, but you're always standing in one spot."

"What else am I to do? My Quirk and I are separate beings." Tokoyami rose gracefully from the floor, brushing dust from his cloak, and the number three hero – Hawks – burst into a carefree laugh, waving one hand in the intern's general direction.

They'd been sparring, but yet again, Hawks had been able to elude Dark Shadow and counterattack by striking the planted Tokoyami with a well-placed feather from one of his wings. The past three rounds had all gone the same, with Dark Shadow hovering closer and closer to Tokoyami in a vain attempt to deflect the incoming feather, but to no avail. Hawks was simply much, much too fast.

"How hard is it for you to move when Dark Shadow's out?" the hero asked him, sticking one hand in his pocket as he took a deep swig from a water bottle.

"No more than usual," Tokoyami rumbled, voice low. "Why do you ask?"

"You're more of a sitting duck than a 'lurking raven', or whatever the hell it is you wanna be called," came the response. "Dark Shadow might be good for ranged combat, but without him, there's not really much more to you, is there?"

Silence. Hawks was blunt, for sure, but his words weren't without significance, and Tokoyami Fumikage was no fool.

"You're saying I should train my body in addition to my Quirk." It wasn't a question, but Hawks nodded anyway.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." A shrug. "Dark Shadow doesn't take damage, does he?"

"No. Dark Shadow is a projection of my emotions," Tokoyami responded, twisting the cap off his own water bottle and taking a long drink. No motion was wasted, and when he'd finished, the water bottle returned to the exact same spot on the windowsill he'd taken it from, disturbing not a single extra speck of dust. "Physically indestructible, but my emotions affect its strength. Light and sustained damage weaken it, but the most that can happen is that it will be forced to retreat. Darkness and anger grant it strength, at the cost of control."

"Awesome." Hawks shot Tokoyami a grin that the teenager didn't return, then combed the fingers of one hand through his bangs. "So, have you considered taking that physical indestructibility for yourself?"

The number three hero's suggestion hung in the warm, musty air of the abandoned warehouse they'd been training in, and Tokoyami felt his feathers flatten.

"Taking it…for myself?" he repeated. "As in…adopting Dark Shadow's properties? I do not believe I am capable of doing that. Dark Shadow has always manifested as its own entity – an eternal agent of the night."

"Uh, that's not really what I meant. You're a bird, not a chameleon." Pushing off the pillar he'd been leaning against, Hawks spread his wings, a single crimson feather shooting out from the left to hover in the air before him. "The thing about Dark Shadow is that he's not a physical entity, right? Think about it. His shape's not necessarily fixed."

"…Hm."

There were a few seconds in which Hawks watched the gears turn in Tokoyami's head before the intern fixed him with another one of those intense, unblinking stares of his.

"Ah."

He waited a moment, but when there was no elaboration, Hawks sighed internally. "Didja figure something out?" he prodded.

"Mm. I believe I have." Without warning, Dark Shadow melted into being, and without a word, Tokoyami straightened, spreading his arms; the entity retreated along the black tether that connected it to his midriff and, as Hawks watched, rippled and blurred to cover the intern's torso, head and arms like a suit of armour.

"Oh. Shit. Awesome." Grinning now, Hawks raised one hand, and the feather he'd been keeping at the ready shot straight for Tokoyami, bouncing harmlessly off of Dark Shadow's form. "You're a fast learner. Got a name for that move yet?"

A nod. "I shall call it… _Shin'en Anku! Tenebrous Abyss Body!"_

Hawks sighed.

"Better watch yourself before you end up cutting someone with that edge."

* * *

" _Smaaaaaaash!"_

Todoroki, unable to react in time, took the hit at full force and staggered backwards, his focus disrupted; without giving him a chance to gather his wits, Izuku launched himself at his classmate again, sending him sprawling across the dojo floor.

 _I…think I see now. What Endeavour meant…my strength is his weakness! If I can get in close, Todoroki-kun is at a disadvantage…but as long as I'm not within arm's reach, he's got the advantage of range._

Izuku had pushed hard off of the ceiling to change his velocity as fast as possible, trying his hardest to get within range before the other could react; he felt a brief glow of pride at finally having made some breakthrough in his combat ability, but seeing Todoroki on the floor extinguished that with a flood of guilt. "Todoroki-kun, are you - ?"

" _Don't!"_

He winced as Todoroki's shout echoed off the polished floor, the scorched walls, but within a second the heterochrome was on his feet again, kicking off towards Izuku, ice forming along his right arm – Izuku cocked his arm, lunging in to disrupt Todoroki -

" _Smaaa_ – unh!"

Todoroki hadn't come at him with a ranged attack.

Todoroki had blocked his punch with _a shield._

As his fist collided painfully with the frozen bulwark, Izuku felt his concentration slip, One For All leaving his body; he crashed to the ground in a heap, blinking at the toe of Todoroki's shoe, and Endeavour gave a shout of _**"Enough!"**_

"Unh," he grunted again, from the floor. "Todoroki-kun, that was – "

"Midoriya," Endeavour cut in. "Watching you think causes me physical pain."

… _Oh._

"Thinking on your feet is important, but if you had stopped to consider your options like that in a real fight against a real villain, you would be nothing more than a bloodstain," the hero scolded. "Work on your reaction time. Furthermore!" he added in a half-shout, as Izuku opened his mouth, "you have no _style._ "

"Ah, what do you mean?" the intern asked, pushing himself to his feet. _He can't possibly mean that my fighting style isn't_ fancy _enough?_

"Your punches are some of the most telegraphed I've ever seen, and you seem incapable of attacking any other way," came the response – a long, hopeless sigh – and Endeavour took a step forward, crossing his arms and giving Izuku another one of his signature down-the-nose glares. "Where are those flames from the sports festival? Do your legs work? Why do you need to wind up each punch and scream 'smash' like a child playing as All Might?" The questions hammered at him one after another, and Izuku nearly winced under the barrage, especially at the last one – he couldn't exactly tell the truth, after all.

 _Oh, sorry, Endeavour-san. I literally have All Might's Quirk and I have to scream every time I attack._

If it sounded that stupid in his head, he couldn't imagine saying it out loud.

Still, he had to admit that the hero made a lot of excellent points. His punches _were_ very telegraphed, and now that he thought about it, didn't All Might only shout some variation of "smash" when he went for the photo finish at one hundred percent? The fanboy in Izuku knew with absolute certainty that All Might didn't yell with every single punch.

 _Wait, so why the hell do I keep doing it!?_

Actually, he knew the answer to that one too: he was still operating under the instructions All Might had given him that very first day, when he'd had to choke down a distinctly sour golden-blonde hair. _Clench your buttocks and scream within your heart!_ the hero had said, and Izuku had been following that _every single time_ he'd thrown a punch under One For All's influence.

If he'd only had One For All, perhaps he would have tried to emulate All Might more closely, but as it stood, Phoenix was always his wild card, the so-called "x factor" that eluded his full comprehension and, though he hated to admit it, gave him some form of identity other than "successor". He'd been so wrapped up with everything going on lately that he hadn't really sat and thought much on it – hell, he'd put more time into working out Ochako's Quirk in one evening than he had his own in several weeks – but here, now, with the number two hero looming over him and spewing every stylistic criticism he could think of…Izuku realized.

He hadn't been growing.

All of his classmates had been so focused on their personal growth – Ochako, determined to learn to fight, excited at the way she'd developed her Quirk; Todoroki, who'd clearly just figured _something_ out if the shield he still held was anything to go by; Iida, refining his style and learning the ins and outs of on-the-ground heroism; Sero, upping his power by finding new ways to use his Quirk; the stoic, unsmiling Tokoyami accepting the tutelage of the casual, carefree Hawks – and here he'd been, doing…what, exactly? He'd accepted an internship under Endeavour, but why? The vague concept of _fire_ swirled in the dim recesses of his mind, and Izuku could have kicked himself.

"Shouto," the hero went on; the ambient temperature dropped a few degrees, and Todoroki stood stock-still, gripping the shield with white knuckles. "You held Midoriya off, but failed to account for an overhead attack. Work on your response time."

And that was all he said.

In spite of his refusal to outwardly acknowledge Todoroki's innovation, Endeavour didn't discourage it, either; he did, however, spend far more time working with Izuku than he did his own son. Todoroki, on the opposite side of a dojo, now bore a bo-staff with which he sparred with a sidekick. Izuku didn't have time to dwell on this – the hero demanded his full attention now, and for good reason.

"Your flames, Midoriya." Izuku, standing stock-still, nodded mutely. "Summon them."

… _And now for the moment of truth._ "I, um…I can't exactly…do it at will. At least, not like you saw at the festival," he admitted, glancing at a training dummy over his shoulder, and as expected, he received a question in return.

"Why not?"

"Well, y'see," he began, slowly. "It…my Quirk works on my emotions and my determination, as far as I know. So I can't just use them whenever." He'd always felt emotions very strongly, possibly as a result of his Quirk, but even so, he wasn't sure he could summon up the power he'd been able to pull out during the obstacle race by just standing there. "I can, um, use the enhancement part of it whenever I want, though," he offered, but this wasn't enough for Endeavour, who shook his head.

"No. If you're capable of producing fire like that outside of fatal injury, that is the part of your power you need to work on," he insisted.

Biting his lip, Izuku had to admit that Endeavour was right about that much; he had one hell of a Quirk at his disposal, if he could only figure out how to unlock its powers.

"Is there no other way for you to activate it?" For whatever reason, Endeavour seemed strangely intent on the idea that Izuku should work on his pyrokinetic abilities – a phrase that still sounded very foreign indeed, just as the phrase "my Quirk" had been several months prior – and he couldn't figure out why that was, though he could at least safely assume that it wasn't out of any interest in Izuku's development for the Yuuei student's own sake.

"Hm. Can I think about that one?" he found himself asking. To his mixed surprise and guilt, the other sighed, dipping his head.

"If you must. I will give you five minutes."

Instead of going to check up on Todoroki (whose bo-staff, Izuku realized, was made up of his own ice, though he wielded it two-handed with the shield reduced to a buckler on his right arm), Endeavour simply left the room, and Izuku found himself alone on his side of the dojo, the only sound the echoing _crack_ of wood on ice and the occasional clattering as the staff Todoroki wielded snapped at one end or the other before reforming.

 _Focus, Izuku!_ he scolded himself. _What can you do to activate Phoenix without being in a situation where your adrenaline is running high…? Think!_

He'd been tired, that day at the stadium – so, so tired, after having Phoenix's Rebirth triggered – but he'd somehow still managed to draw out his wings, at that critical instant – so what? What had it been? What had been the catalyst?

 _It wasn't talking to All Might…it wasn't any kind of survival instinct…and it wasn't any kind of awakening of latent power. So it must have been…_

At the thought of her – scared yet determined, clothes bloodstained, eyes fierce – fire blossomed along his forearms, and he knew.

Holding onto that feeling as tightly as he could, Izuku focused, watching the flames, their curious warmth creeping through his body; he'd worked on something similar with One For All, before the festival, but never with Phoenix. He didn't know why he hadn't trained this Quirk yet, though he could excuse the first ten months that he'd been aware of its existence, considering that the general consensus was that its purpose was to repair lethal damage. He'd known since sometime before the festival – since the attack on the mall, as a matter of fact – that it had some other aspect to it, but for whatever reason, he'd been neglecting it.

 _No longer. Focus, Izuku, focus!_ he nearly screamed, teeth clenched tight. _Draw it out!_

Drawing out One For All at anything other than full power felt like trying to let a dam leak just a little – its massive reservoir of power brimmed full close to the surface, and Izuku was in a position to harness as much of it as he physically could at his whim. Phoenix, on the other hand, was the opposite – it was if he had to _fight_ to draw out its power. If One For All was a reservoir, Phoenix was an untapped well far beneath the earth's surface, and he was attempting to draw from it with nothing more than a straw – and, like trying to pull liquid through a straw, the slow battle against whatever kept Phoenix's power inside was agonizing and unsatisfying. On the outside, Midoriya Izuku stood still for two and a half minutes, watching golden fire flicker and dance across his forearms, but on the inside, he felt _something_ , something burning and hot and powerful just waiting for that moment when it met the straw's brim and spilled over to the world above.

And spill over it did.

Across the dojo, Todoroki dropped his staff.

* * *

She'd submitted a form to the national Quirk registry to file for a change of Quirk the morning of her departure for Kanagawa – "Zero Gravity" to "Force Manipulation" – and explained the way it worked to Varumontu, but so far, Ochako hadn't had a chance to actually use it in any sort of combat situation.

"First, let us establish the plan." The hero in question was an older man, an immigrant from China whose Quirk had something to do with his reflexes and who as a result had had to learn martial combat to offset his general lack of offensive power. "We work on your combat skills and focus less on hero work, correct?"

She nodded.

"Then, by the end of this week, I expect you to be able to land a blow on me. Do you understand?"

"Hai! Yes, sensei!" Ochako shot back, all respectful and determined, then she remembered a video Izuku had showed her when they'd hung out on Saturday…

The man in front of her, dodging and deflecting no fewer than twenty-two simultaneous arrows with nothing more than his bare hands.

 _How am I supposed to land a hit on someone like that!?_ she could have shrieked, but she kept her mouth shut.

They started off with basic sparring, where Ochako was – predictably – unable to even get _near_ the hero; he always seemed to be a step ahead, and by the hour's end, she was out of breath and drenched in sweat.

"How…your Quirk…it's, uh, it's real strong," she managed to wheeze out. "How am I…?"

"My Quirk is simply a tool," Varumontu corrected. "It is my _body_ that has grown strong enough to use it."

Briefly, she remembered something Izuku had told her, on some distant summer day; had it really only been a couple of months? A matter of weeks?

" _Wow, Deku-kun. Your Quirk's like a superpower! No wonder you got in so easy…"_

 _He laughed. "It looks like that, doesn't it? But…when I broke my arm, it wasn't from hitting anything too hard…it was the force from my Quirk that broke it. So I've gotta keep training my body – my Quirk isn't gonna do much for me if I can't use it. I can't keep relying on thirty seconds a day to get me through Yuuei and hero work, can I?"_

Slowly, her breathing calmed, and she straightened her posture; it was only then that she realized the hero had been standing stock-still and dead silent, offering her a bottle of water.

"Oh, um - thanks, sensei!" Ochako blurted out, grabbing it with her full hand and accidentally floating it before she could twist the lid off. "Oh, jeez…."

 _Izukkun…he was right, and Varumontu-sensei is proof of that! The training I did with Aizawa-sensei helped, but it was mostly basic moves for the sports festival…I hafta make myself strong for my Quirk to be strong._

It took a moment for her to notice that the hero was speaking to her, and when she pulled herself from her reverie, she bowed and issued an apology that he simply chuckled at, assuring her it was fine.

"I am curious, though," he went on, gesturing to the still-floating water bottle. "By what you have told me, it is currently being supported by the force of gravity, only dampened and redirected?"

It took her a second to understand what he meant. "Um, yeah, that's about right."

"Can you apply a stronger force, or can you only manipulate forces within their operable boundaries?"

"…You mean, can I move it with more force than just the force of gravity?" Ochako asked; a nod, and she went on. "Maybe if it had more force goin' through it than just gravity…but I dunno. Can we use somethin' that's not the water I wanna drink, though?"

"Of course. Here." – and he handed her a pen, which she carefully touched five fingers to before pinching together her thumb and index finger and pointing them both straight ahead, focusing on redirecting the sheer force pulling it towards the planet's center – and the pen rocketed into the opposite wall, shattering into a dozen pieces.

There was a moment of silence, then the hero snorted. "A casualty of war. But – tell me, child. Can you use this Quirk on yourself?"

"Yeah, why…?"

"Then attack me again, but use your Quirk this time."

"But – what happens if I fall into the wall like that?" she objected. "I don' feel like havin' my bones break…"

"You cannot regulate its power?" He quirked an eyebrow.

"No, I can, I jus' – I haven't tried yet, is all," Ochako sighed. "But…I guess that's why we're here, huh?"

A smile. "Correct. Now - whenever you are ready."

Gritting her teeth, Uraraka Ochako touched five fingers to her own skin and kicked hard off of the dojo floor.

* * *

"…Midoriya."

Izuku stared down at his hands.

"Midoriya."

They were intact.

" _Midoriya."_

A little red, sure, but otherwise undamaged – _he'd done it._

A sharp nudge on the shoulder brought him into the moment, and he glanced up to meet the unreadable glare of none other than Endeavour; clearly, his five minutes was up, and the cross-shape scorched into the wall in front of him had definitely not been there before the hero had left. Even if Izuku had thought to try and pass it off as a pre-existing burn – though he wasn't the type to do so, and it hadn't even occurred to him – embers still flared here and there, golden stars twinkling on marble night, and neither Endeavour nor Todoroki produced fire of that color…

"That was excellent, Midoriya."

… _What?_

Turning now, Izuku faced the hero, who was – unbelievably – smiling. "But, ah, I burned the wall…" he began, only for Endeavour to cut him off.

"Do you think I care for that?" he interjected, making a sweeping gesture to the room at large. The obvious answer was _no_ , but Izuku felt a little guilty nonetheless. "You were able to draw that fire of yours out. That's what's important – now you need to make it stronger."

A little testing found that Izuku's newfound firepower wasn't particularly efficient; it also didn't function anything like Endeavour's or Todoroki's, instead behaving like a petroleum-based fire and practically _pouring_ off of his arms. As much as he tried, he also didn't seem to be able to project the fire much further than a few meters, slinging arcs of sludgy, red-gold flames across the dojo only for them to drop halfway and stain the floor a scorched brownish-black.

"Hmm." From the hero's tone, Izuku could tell Endeavour wasn't particularly pleased, but he didn't say anything; he'd been more or less ignoring Todoroki the whole day, choosing instead to focus on Izuku. "Well. I suppose it's a start."

 _A start!?_ Izuku wanted to scream. _I just learned I could summon fire out of my arms!_

It wasn't until after they'd taken a break that Izuku realized just how exhausted he was; if the passive manifestations he exhibited were tiring, then actively using his powers was draining.

"Midoriya. Are you okay?"

He'd been lagging behind, and when Todoroki turned to check on him, he was leaning against a wall, breathing labored. "I'm...I'm fine," he panted out, but his classmate clearly wasn't buying it. A moment later found a completely unbothered Todoroki helping Izuku to limp down the hallway, the former completely oblivious to the embarrassment the latter felt at having to lean on someone else in such a literal sense.

"Did something happen?" Todoroki blurted out; Izuku wasn't sure if the scowl on the other's face was anger at his father or worry for Izuku, but he figured he'd give Todoroki the benefit of the doubt and assume concern.

"Nothing outside training," he mumbled. Holding up the hand that wasn't around Todoroki's shoulder, he observed angry red lines streaking their way up his forearm, crisscrossing it like splitting earth. Izuku could almost imagine magma welling up along the faults in his skin, and suddenly it occurred to him just why he felt so tired. "I dunno what exactly fuels my Quirk, but I think it uses some kind of internal energy reserve...yours just changes the air temperature, but mine is powered by something inside me…" It's not pyrokinesis like Endeavour...it's _pyrogenesis_ …

Silence, for a moment, then Todoroki's brow creased so infinitesimally that a stranger wouldn't even have noticed the shift. "You can't do much with that fire."

"No, not right now," Izuku admitted. "I know I can do something more, because of what happens when I get hurt badly enough...but I guess I just don't know what that is yet. Still, if just training is enough to tire me out like this…" _What's gonna happen in a real fight?_ He finished the sentence in his head, wincing a little.

"...Have you considered a support item?"

"You're feeling talkative," Izuku joked, weakly; Todoroki blinked at him, wiping the laughter off his face. "Uh. My costume is fine, isn't it? I don't see what I could need...my Quirk doesn't have any special requirements…"

"Midoriya. You burned your sleeves off, and you incinerated your tracksuit during your fight with Uraraka."

 _...Oh._ Sure enough, the sleeves of his costume stopped at his elbows, the edges frayed and blackened. "Um, what do you think I would need?" he asked, scratching the back of his head self-consciously, but Todoroki just shrugged.

"Fireproof clothes."

 _He's not wrong...but I would have liked a little more help._

Izuku spent their lunch break scribbling frantically in his notebook, this time about Phoenix - he'd written quite a lot about One For All (albeit under All Might's entry), but oddly, he'd never jotted down a single word about his own Quirk. Perhaps he'd spent so long seeing it as nothing more than a "take two" of sorts that he'd never deemed it worth a second thought, but the past few weeks had certainly presented him with ample evidence to the contrary - that is, that Phoenix was much more than a free revive.

Todoroki was perfectly comfortable eating his food in silence, which gave Izuku the space he needed to think clearly. As fond as he was of Ochako, she was a little _too_ bubbly sometimes, and he often found it difficult to focus around her ( _although_ , part of him reflected _, that might be more to do with the way she makes you feel_ , and he shut that part up very quickly).

When they got back to training, Izuku - reenergized and armed with the arsenal of conjectures and hypotheses he'd come up with between bites - stared down the training dummy, a fresh one that replaced the one he'd melted with a close range punch. So far, when he was able to channel those exhausting golden flames (and they were definitely a pure, bright gold, compared to the red-gold of the wings he usually manifested), he'd been able to sling them in arcs by throwing hooks and shoot a short jet by launching a straight punch. He also seemed to be channeling the physical enhancements he was familiar with from past Phoenix manifestations, but for whatever reason, there were no wings this time, and he couldn't help but wonder why that was.

He had, however, noticed a correlation between how far he was able to launch the fire and how hard he'd been hitting; when simply thrusting his arm forward like Todoroki, bright flames had lost momentum and sprayed across the floor only a couple of feet away, and when he threw a full punch, the fire shot much further, though never further than the few meters he'd logged earlier.

 _But if I use One For All...can I shoot even further?_

He had an enhancement Quirk at his disposal - why hadn't he been using it before now? Then again, as he'd been finding out time and time again lately, he seemed to be extremely short-sighted when it came to his own Quirks.

"Now, Midoriya," came Endeavour's low growl from behind him. "Emitter Quirks grow like muscles - the more you use them, the stronger they become. Observe Shouto, who refuses to use the power he inherited from me." Izuku turned just in time to see Todoroki block a strike from the sidekick he'd been training with using a sheet of ice he'd formed in the back of his forearm. "His ice is strong - but his flames are weak."

Izuku didn't think he'd ever seen Todoroki use any sort of flames, but he'd thawed his ice by simply touching it before, and according to Yaoyorozu, he'd blasted open a path for them to escape the stadium during the quake…

"So! You'll be training your powers by pushing them to their limits and then some."

"Oh. So - go beyond? Plus Ultra?" Izuku guessed; he wasn't sure if Endeavour had attended Yuuei or not, but the motto was everywhere around Tokyo – Yuuei was its pride and joy, and the capital a hub of burgeoning young heroes.

"…Yes. Plus Ultra. I would have liked to teach you more about the power you hold, but I suppose this will do for now."

"Right."

The hero stepped back, allowing Izuku space to use his Quirk, and as he faced the mannequin before him, he summoned the power of One For All, ensuring its steady flow through his body before he turned to Phoenix, grimacing as the adrenaline rush of Full Cowling mixed with the searing inner heat of Radiance -

\- and then the seal broke, and the flames came pouring out, and the sensation he felt was nothing like anything he'd ever experienced before as arcs of green lightning merged with his fire and _lifted_ it from his body, his arms glowing with green-tinged gold, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end, and he drew back one arm, shouting:

" _Smaaaash!"_

A rush of power rose up through his body, and five percent of One For All sent Phoenix's flames spiraling across the dojo, flashing past Todoroki to strike the head of a dummy on the opposite side of a room.

Realizing he'd yelled "smash" again, he turned to apologize, but from the look on Endeavour's face, Izuku had a feeling the hero would let this one slide.

Watching the mannequin burn on its stand, he felt an involuntary grin creeping onto his face as he realized just what he'd worked out.

 _Radiant Cowling!_

* * *

The remainder of that day and following morning were spent training their Quirks; by the time they were ready to go out on patrol for the evening, Izuku had managed to develop a rudimentary attack by channeling as much of One For All as he could into a finger flick and summoning Phoenix's flames simultaneously, launching a jet of fire with the force of the attack. He wasn't entirely sure just how much of One For All went into it, but he figured it might have been around ten percent – his fingers certainly ached after using it repeatedly. Still, with five fingers to a hand, he could rapidly launch several of these flame-jets in succession with minimal strain.

Izuku had the distinct feeling that Endeavour was disappointed somehow – he'd probably been expecting Izuku to pull out another cataclysmic firestorm instead of this dense, semi-solid blaze he'd been working with – but considering that the alternative to favoring Izuku was favoring Todoroki, the hero was stuck between a mental rock and a psychological hard place.

Their first patrol, then was rather uneventful. Early evening wasn't exactly a hotspot of villain activity, considering that it was around the time most people were returning home from work, and as a result, heroes and law enforcement abound, keeping a keen eye out for any wrongdoing; at one point, Endeavour responded to a bank robbery, but the situation was deemed too delicate for Izuku and Todoroki to do anything more than "watch and learn".

When they returned to the guest room afterward, Izuku's cell phone buzzed, and he answered; people never called him unless it was important, so -

"Hello?" he said, without checking the caller ID, then yanked the phone away from his ear as a shrill, excited voice came through far too loudly for his liking.

" _Hey! Izukkun! What's up?"_

 _Oh. It's…it's her._

"Oh, um, hey, Uraraka-san," he responded, glancing sidelong at Todoroki; he doubted his quiet fellow intern cared how they addressed one another, but in case Todoroki let anything slip by mistake, he'd prefer to keep their closeness quiet. "What's up?"

" _Can ya see the stars right now?"_

"Um…" Izuku scanned the room and immediately locked his gaze on the window. "I can get to a window, if that's what you want?"

" _Yeah! Sure! Tell me when!"_ she chirped.

 _She sounds really happy…I wonder why?_ Hauling himself over to the wooden-slat blinds, Izuku pushed one up, peering through the gap at the night sky. "It's…kinda dark, Uraraka-san. I'm in the city, so the light pollution is making it hard to see the stars," he told her.

" _That's okay. Look straight up if you can, yeah?"_

He did, or at least as far as he could manage with his limited viewport.

" _See it?"_ she murmured, and Izuku almost shivered; she sounded as if she was whispering into his ear.

"What am I looking for?"

" _There should be one star, shinin' real bright. I used to look up to it every night 'fore I went to sleep. My dad used to tell me you could see that star from anywhere in the world."_

If he squinted, he was pretty sure he could see it; the guestroom was on the twelfth floor, almost at eye level with the glowing city in the near distance, but piercing through the lightscape was a single point of intense light, far above…

"Are you sure that's not a satellite?" he asked her, biting his bottom lip. "It looks too bright to be a star."

" _Nope! Always in the same spot."_

He couldn't think of a response, so he said nothing; Ochako gave a little contented sigh, clearly just happy for the company, but after a few minutes, she spoke again:

" _Do you think satellites wanna be stars?"_

"…Huh?"

Todoroki glanced up from the book he was reading, then blinked once and gave the pages his full attention once more.

" _Like…people are always lookin' up at the stars, writin' songs about 'em, stuff like that. Satellites shine even brighter, but because they're…what's that word? Where you can touch somethin'?"_

"Tangible?" Izuku guessed.

" _Yeah! Tangible. Because satellites are tangible, 'cause they're_ real _, people don't seem to like 'em as much…but to me, they're like puttin' our own stars in the sky. That's always fascinated me. I like that we can get to 'em, y'know? Stars are just hot air somewhere too far away to matter."_

Again, Izuku didn't know how to respond, and a moment elapsed before she coughed and apologized. _"Sorry, Izukkun, I kinda went ramblin' there, didn't I?"_

"No! That's fine – I – go on, if you want," he spluttered out. She giggled.

" _You're silly. Anyway, I dunno, I was kinda just – "_

 _BOOM._

"What was that?" Todoroki shot at him, and Izuku threw his free hand into the air, a gesture of total confusion.

"I dunno, I didn't see – " and then he _did_ see, a massive, jet-black _something_ rocketing at high speed across Hosu with the force of a sonicboom; it decelerated just before dropping behind some buildings, out of sight, and then the guest room door burst open, revealing Endeavour already fully-dressed and ready to go, hair and costume ablaze.

"Midoriya. Shouto. Come with me."

* * *

Elsewhere in Hosu, Iida Tenya had just seen the exact same thing.

He was by himself – the moment the Noumu had attacked and he'd gotten separated from Manual, he'd taken the opportunity to ensure they'd _stay_ separated. Tenya had no plans on regrouping anytime soon – he had a job to do.

It had been so believable, so _Iida_ , for him to accept Manual's internship under the guise of wanting to learn more about the red-tape of hero work – and he truly had, but he had an ulterior motive for choosing Manual, and that was that the hero was located in Hosu, the purported base of operations for the same man who'd wounded his brother so grievously: Hero Killer, Stain.

So it was that when Tenya heard someone – a man – scream, he fired up his engines and took off at a sprint for its source, hoping against hope that he'd find his target, that he wouldn't be too late to save Stain's unfortunate victim – he dashed by row after row of alleys, buildings, darkened streets and quiet places where a thousand murders could have happened –

He found the source of the scream, and just as he'd suspected, it was a hero, a man dressed in traditional Native American garb complete with headdress…but the person attacking him didn't match the descriptions of Stain that he was aware of. Hell, it wasn't even a _person_ attacking him.

As Tenya watched, _it_ leaned down, folding its skin-hooded head forward; the screaming went muffled, turned to gurgling, stopped, and when it lifted its head again, the hero's headdress was nowhere to be found.

Still chewing, it turned slowly in place; the hero's body fell to the ground with a final, ignominious _thump_ , and Iida Tenya stared into that gore-stained hood, two burning yellow eyes piercing through the night into his soul as its unseen mouth dribbled with blood, whispering:

" _ **B**_ _ **r**_ _ **́**_ _ **in**_ _ **͏**_ _ **g me**_ _ **͜**_ _ **you**_ _ **͞**_ _ **r**_ _ **́**_ _ **͟**_ _ **s**_ _ **̀**_ _ **t**_ _ **̧**_ _ **ronge**_ _ **͢**_ _ **s**_ _ **͠**_ _ **t**_ _ **̵**_ _ **.**_ _ **̛**_ _ **"**_


	18. notice

Hey.

This isn't a chapter, but it's been so long since the last update that I figured I should let everyone who's still (for whatever reason) got this story followed know that I'm not going to be updating anymore.

I do plan on rewriting the entire thing at some point. Writer's block is a bitch, and I've been dealing with a lot lately. When I get the first 5 or so chapters of the rewrite done, I'll post another update to this story - so if you're interested in seeing where that goes, keep this one on your follows. Not like it's hurting anything to have it on there anyway ;w; I've got a few big change-ups planned (including class membership), and hopefully some more coherence with regard to Izuku's Quirk; it's changed designs several times since the beginning, and having to retcon every scene where he uses it is honestly more painful than rewriting the entire (mediocre) story anyway. Stuck on chapter 2 right now because for some reason I can't finish typing the word "Uraraka".

That's all I've really got to say. No matter who you are or what you celebrate, happy holidays, and I hope to see you around sometime.

\- Dewyn


	19. announcement

**I said I'd announce when v2 was out, so here it is:**

 **s/13193806/1/Phoenix-v2**

 **It's very different from this one, but I hope you enjoy it.**

 **(Just paste this at the end of the ffnet link (^: )**


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